Port of year 2021

Freeport Container Port

“We are thrilled”. These were the words of delighted chief executive Alan Dixon when asked by Caribbean Maritime magazine for his reaction to Freeport Container Port (FCP) winning The Ludlow Stewart Container Port of the Year Award 2021.

The Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) has been organizing its Port of the Year Award for 34 years. The Award has traditionally been a key feature of the gala dinner at the CSA’s October Annual General Meeting. Unfortunately, and in contrast to previous years (2020 excepted), there was no in-person AGM in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. However, and to underline the importance the CSA attaches to the award, immediate past president Juan Carlos Croston and general manager Milaika Capella-Ras and Roland Malins-Smith all travelled to Grand Bahama to make the presentation to FCP.

Competition

It’s fair to say that FCP fought off some tough competition to claim the 2021 title with both DP World Caucedo and Barbados Port chasing the Grand Bahama-based terminal all the way to the finish line.

There were several key reasons for FCP clinching the award. For example, FCP saw an impressive 20 plus per cent increase in its box throughput in 2021 – from 1.26 million to 1.6 million TEU. Some of this growth was undoubtedly due to serious congestion issues that have plagued many US ports in recent months, but this doesn’t tell the whole story and Mr Dixon insisted that much of the additional volume was generated by customers on existing routes, including more South American reefer traffic.

But having been knocked sideways by thedevastating impact in 2019 of Hurricane Dorian– a category 5 storm that killed 74 people inThe Bahamas (including 22 in Grand Bahamaitself) with many more missing believed dead,FCP says it is now better equipped to face asimilar event in the future. Dorian was thestrongest hurricane ever to hit The Bahamas.

Highlight

In accepting the award, Mr Dixon also wantedto highlight FCP’s efforts to reduce its emissions.He cited FCP’s fleet of seven three-highKalmar hybrid straddle carriers – which areall-electric designed with Tare- 4 engines toprevent adding carbon to the environment –as evidence of this. These were delivered inFebruary 2020.

Corporate Social Responsibility is anotherkey area in which FCP scored highly with thejudges, who recognized the terminal’s localenvironmental efforts in running its ‘Go Green’initiative for the past eight years with projectsincluding beach cleaning and tree planting.

Looking to next year, Mr Dixon said: “Whilethe award has been huge for us, and retainingthe title would be nice, we are not seekingawards”. And, as he sees it, it’s all part of anurge to do better.

FCP saw an impressive 20 plus per cent increase in its box throughput in 2021 – from 1.26 million to 1.6 million TEU”