Twenty-four young participants comprise the inaugural cohort of the nation’s first-ever National Apprenticeship Programme’s Maritime Pre-Apprenticeship scheme.

Minister of Labour and the Public Service the Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle said this programme was designed as a comprehensive intervention for young persons to more easily develop in-demand skills, and find employment. 

“Through practical, skills-based training aligned with industry standards, we are creating a best practices driven approach to workforce development that meets people where they are and empowers them to uplift themselves,” the Labour Minister said during the Graduation Ceremony for the first cohort held at the Nassau Cruise Port Wine & Art Gallery on Friday, August 8, 2025.

She explained that the training the Pre-Apprenticeship participants are receiving meets rigorous industry standards while addressing the specific skills and traits that employers in the maritime industry are looking for.

“There is no need for us to import professionals in areas like logistics, marine operations, eco-tourism and other diverse maritime careers, when our young people are more than capable of stepping up and filling these roles with the right training and experience.

“This programme is designed to equip them with the requisite skills and on-the-job experience they need to thrive.”

The Labour Minister said the Pre-Apprenticeship training represents the first step.

“Next, these young people will move on to apprenticeships while receiving further specialised technical training to gain industry recognised certifications.”

She thanked the Programme’s partners who have committed to providing real-world experience and career opportunities.  They include: the Nassau Cruise Port, Harbourside Marine, Marlin Marine and The Mail Boat Company.

Twenty-four young participants comprise the inaugural cohort of the nation’s first-ever National Apprenticeship Programme’s Maritime Pre-Apprenticeship scheme. Minister of Labour and the Public Service the Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle said this programme was designed as a comprehensive intervention for young persons to more easily develop in-demand skills, and find employment.  “Through practical, skills-based training aligned with industry standards, we are creating a best practices driven approach to workforce development that meets people where they are and empowers them to uplift themselves,” the Labour Minister said during the Graduation Ceremony for the first cohort held at the Nassau Cruise Port Wine & Art Gallery on Friday, August 8, 2025. She explained that the training the Pre-Apprenticeship participants are receiving meets rigorous industry standards while addressing the specific skills and traits that employers in the maritime industry are looking for. “There is no need for us to import professionals in areas like logistics, marine operations, eco-tourism and other diverse maritime careers, when our young people are more than capable of stepping up and filling these roles with the right training and experience. “This programme is designed to equip them with the requisite skills and on-the-job experience they need to thrive.” The Labour Minister said the Pre-Apprenticeship training represents the first step. “Next, these young people will move on to apprenticeships while receiving further specialised technical training to gain industry recognised certifications.” She thanked the Programme’s partners who have committed to providing real-world experience and career opportunities.  They include: the Nassau Cruise Port, Harbourside Marine, Marlin Marine and The Mail Boat Company.

THE future of the Valley Boys is uncertain as two factions fight to be treated as the iconic Junkanoo group.

The extent of the division was apparent during Friday’s Labour Day parade. Two groups participated under the Valley Boys name, one flaunting mostly yellow outfits, the other orange. Each showcased robust support.                       

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture has avoided the dispute, hoping the two sides iron out their differences.

However, Trevor Davis, interim chairman of the breakaway group, said yesterday that the rupture reflects deep concern about how the Valley Boys had been run over the years. He said the organisation lacked fiscal accountability, avoided elections and failed to copyright its symbols. He believes his group has the support of 60 per cent of people who typically rush with the Valley Boys. He said his group has secured one major sponsor: Think Simple.

Officials from the original group led by chairman Brian Adderley could either not be reached or did not respond to questions up to press time yesterday.

Mr Davis, a Valley Boys member since 1980, said the separation did not happen overnight.

He said some members sought Mr Adderley’s support for a constitution that mandates regular meetings, establishes financial accountability, and facilitates member feedback and votes.

“Needless to say,” he said, “this would have fell on deaf ears from then to now, which led us to seek legal counsel to find out why as an oragnisation, they choose not to want to sit down and listen to the members.”

Mr Davis said his group eventually learned that the Valley Boys was not registered as a non-profit organisation and did not copyright its symbols. Junkanoo Corporation of the New Providence (JCNP) chairman Dion Miller has said NPO registration is unnecessary for the JCNP to recognise a junkanoo group.

Mr Davis said his group registered as an NPO under the Valley Boys name. He said the original group later registered as an NPO named “World Famous Valley Boys”.

Mr Davis believes the JCNP has shown bias toward the original group rather than waiting to see how the conflict plays out.

Mr Miller countered yesterday: “The JNCP is not involved in their internal matter, so I will direct you to Trevor Davis and Brian Adderley. We recognise the Valley Boys. In the leadership struggle for the Valley Boys, no one can solve that but themselves.”

Mr Davis claimed that the group Mr Adderley leads did not have a “registration drive” in over 15 years. He said his group has had one, registered over 500 people and has attracted people who left the other group over the years out of frustration.

He said efforts to “come to the table” with Mr Adderley’s team have failed.

“We even reached out to the former prime minister who we all know is a great valley boy, Perry Gladstone Christie,” he said. “At one point we used him to be the mediator. He was able to secure one meeting for us and after that they promised us a follow-up meeting, which never happened, so I don’t see them sitting down anytime soon and wanting to be part of a structure with accountability and transparency.”

Mr Davis admitted that if the conflict is not resolved and neither side gains more supporters, Bahamians would see a splintered version of the Valley Boys during the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day parades, two groups that would struggle to compete against other category A groups.

With the government failing to communicate any decision to the Bahamas Petroleum Dealers Association regarding its request for a restructured profits model, some retailers are talking about staging a strike, but Association Vice President Vasco Bastian is discouraging any kind of action.

"I'm not going to be a part of anything that will jeopardize this country," said Bastian, when asked about the matter yesterday.

"I am for all Bahamians. I don't think we should stop selling diesel and then next thing you know, transportation is affected, heavy equipment is affected.

"People who need generators for their offices are going to be affected. It's going to have a huge impact on the economy if we do that.

"That's not the course of action that I recommend at all. I don't want to be a part of that."

Asked whether some retailers are giving serious consideration to striking, Bastian said, "Some of them are. Some of them want to strike but I'm opposed to that."

He said while the Davis administration has not yet outlined any plan to ease the financial burden many retailers have been facing, it is important to be patient.

The Nassau Guardian recently reported that the retailers wrote the government asking it to urgently address their concerns about the existing margins to avoid businesses from going under and others from implementing layoffs to stay afloat.

"There's no more milk in this cow," warned Bastian in a previous interview, stressing that retailers are stretched to the limit.

Yesterday, he said, "Some of these guys are ready to strike now. They're ready to stop selling diesel immediately, but who will it benefit? It won't benefit anybody when we are negotiating with the government. These things take time. We have a little bump in the road, but this is something that we all can work through."

Retailers earn 54 cents on a gallon of gasoline.

When a gallon of gas was $6.16 at the gas station, the gas station operators earned 54 cents and the petroleum wholesalers earned 34 cents.

The landed cost of the gas before value-added tax was $3.56 and $1.72 went to the government in duties and taxes.

Bastian said declining oil prices are making a "huge" difference, but he said a new margin structure is still needed.

"It now requires us less money to buy fuel, so we don't have to put out that huge amount of money that we put out last summer," he explained.

"...Now that crude oil is dropping, all of the major wholesalers reduced their prices this week ... the fuel prices are coming down. As fuel prices reduce, the government, I believe, will be more inclined to sit down and say, 'let's finalize this'. So, it helps both sides. It helps the government side and it helps the retailers when the price of gas and diesel starts to decline.

"Even though the price is declining, we've been struggling in this industry for a while and we want to try and right this wrong now, especially since the price of gas is declining ... Hopefully, the government will see the wisdom in this and sign off on it."

The retailers are asking the government to change the profit model from the existing fixed margins to a fully percentage-based model, which would allow more flexibility when the price of oil fluctuates.

Bastian reiterated such a model would ensure sustainability for petroleum retailers, whose budgets are stretched beyond belief.

He said he's confident that the current administration will help the sector.

"Hubert Minnis and his administration did absolutely nothing to help gas station retailers in this country," Bastian said. "They were all talk and no action."

He said retailers could not even get a meeting with the government under the previous administration.

"I rather negotiate with this government than to negotiate with Hubert Minnis and his government any day," Bastian said.

"The former administration was very dismissive of our plight. Never entertained us. We never even got a meeting with the prime minister. This prime minister and this government, we sat at the table, we're working on some stuff and it's just a matter of time."

Stakeholders are calling for operational times at Grand Bahama International Airport (GBIA) to be extended by at least two hours. Presently, operations at GBIA shut down at 6 p.m. Grand Bahama News learned that if an airline or private aircraft operator submits a request for operations to extend beyond that time, an additional fee is charged.

“We have certainly requested on a number of occasions for the airport hours to be extended, and to return to pre-Hurricane Dorian time frames,” said Sherrexcia Rolle, vice president of operations and general counsel of Western Air.

Rolle said airport officials cited insufficient staffing as the reason for not being able to support extra hours at the airport at this time.

The 6 p.m. closing time was implemented when flights resumed following severe flooding at the facility during Hurricane Dorian, as airport services, and the electricity supply, had yet to be fully restored.

However, power has since been returned and, according to Rolle, passengers are asking for later flights.

“But we’re not able to accommodate that until the operational hours are extended,” she said.

“Otherwise, it would require us submitting after-hours requests. Sometimes we do. However, it is an additional charge to go beyond operational hours of the airport.”

Rolle said the topic came up again during Western Air’s Freeport to Fort Lauderdale scheduling discussions. And yet again, the airline was told it could not be accommodated due to the airport closing time.

“So, we’re still in the process of trying to sort that out,” she said.

“Ideally, it would be great if the airport opens later, once it can do so.”

Bahamian corporate pilot Mark Albury believes the airport’s closing time is stifling business and the island’s rebound.

“You can’t as a businessperson go into Nassau and put in a day’s work with the intent of catching a late flight back to Freeport and vice versa,” Albury said.

The latest incoming flights provided by Bahamasair and Western Air arrive at 5:30 p.m. Travelers are advised to be at the airport for 3 p.m. to clear security checks.

This means that travelers trying to come to Freeport, via Nassau flights, as direct flights to Grand Bahama are limited, often miss these times and must overnight in the capital.

“The big question is how are we supposed to build the economy and build Grand Bahama back? How do we accomplish that like this?” Albury asked.

Albury noted that operating hours at major airports in The Bahamas are from sunrise to sunset.

“Sunset, right now, in the summer months, happens at 8:20 p.m … domestically, and legally, you can fly between sunrise and sunset without any hindrance; but the airport, in the second biggest island in this country, closes at 6 p.m.,” he said.

“Realistically, if they run two eight-hour shifts, which would cover 16 hours, closing time can be moved to 8 p.m. Years ago, we were originally at midnight. Then, it switched from midnight to 10 p.m., and then we were at 8 p.m. for a little while.”

Albury feels that an extension of two hours would make a massive difference for the island.

Lyn Farrington, owner of LF’s Catering, said she wanted to purchase an excursion ticket to Nassau last week, but instead had to settle for spending extra to overnight.

“It was my intent to only spend the day, Thursday, in the capital, do some shopping for my business and fly right back to Freeport later that evening to prepare for a function the following day,” Farrington said.

“But because there are no flights later than 5 p.m., I had to overnight, and catch the first flight back. That cut into my prep time, and it was frustrating.”

She said airport officials must look at changing the time the airport closes.

“At this point, full power should have been restored to the airport to accommodate evening travel,” Farrington said.

State of airport

When contacted regarding extending operational hours at GBIA, Airport Authority Managing Director Peter Rutherford said, “Freeport Airport Development Company (FADC) is aggressively working towards increasing operational hours at GBIA in an effort to facilitate the safe travels of the flying public to and from the island.”

Rutherford said safety and security are priority for airport executives.

“It is incumbent on management to ensure that all the necessary aviation systems that are required to fully support night operations, particularly during severe weather, are in place,” he said.

Rutherford noted that as with all other airports in The Bahamas, except for LPIA, it is customary to close after sunset.

“However, as we do not seek to impede business travel to the island, the Freeport Airport [Development] Company has an established process in place, which is presently available to the flying public, which has been published on all aviation outlets to support after-hours service to the island,” he said.

“This process is currently utilized by the private pilot community, including, but not limited to, air ambulance services and commercial carriers such as Bahamasair and Western Airways daily at the airport.”

While Rutherford noted that management is working to improve services at GBIA, and return it to one of the premier airports in the region, he did not explain why hours at the airport have yet to return to pre-2019 schedules, and did not respond to requests for clarification. 

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Michael Pintard said there is a need for a greater sense of urgency in addressing GBIA’s transformation.

Pintard urged the government to lay out the macro plan for the redevelopment of the airport, inclusive of the domestic and international terminals, the private aircraft arrival area, along with facilities for both customs and immigration officials and other ancillary services.

The proposal, Pintard added, should include meetings with all stakeholders – Grand Bahama Port Authority, lease holders (airlift operators), tourism sector representatives and United States officials – for discussions relative to pre-clearance and security.

“Each step of the way, the public should be kept informed, and a mechanism should be put in place to benefit from public opinion,” Pintard stated.

In a statement over the weekend, Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper accused Pintard and the former Minnis administration of failing Grand Bahama.

Cooper said he was shocked that Pintard has finally found his voice on the need for the island to have a proper airport.

“They let the airport languish for nearly two years before purchasing it and then did nothing up to the time they were voted out of office,” he said.

Since coming to office, Cooper said the Davis administration has begun remedial work at the airport, including ordering and installing generators, ordering modular offices for displaced workers, and elevators for the Control Tower, increasing airlift services, shortlisting public-private partnership proposals to three entities, and embarking on an aggressive plan to build a world-class airport by 2025.

“The Grand Bahama International Airport is in far better hands now than it was in during the last administration,” he said.