Shipping in Nassau is a story of two worlds: The Nassau Container Port at Arawak Cay -- which with all its checks and balances still faces a problem, albeit small, with the smuggling of guns, drugs and money -- and to the east, Potter's Cay Dock, a hodgepodge of food stalls, mailboats, cargo, vehicular traffic and people.
At Potter's Cay, there are virtually no controls. No one knows really what's being shipped in and out of the chaotic site. It is a free-for-all, the ideal environment for nefarious practices to blossom. On a recent visit at Potter's Cay, we met up with Tom Hanna, who owns five mailboats, and has been in the business for 20 years.
As we observed the state of disorder at the site, we asked Hanna whether there were any controls to guard against smuggling. "There is no measure out here for that, really," Hanna admitted.
"I mean, we operate for the government and it's like we've got to accept what the people say. "Sometimes we suspect that there may be drugs onboard, but if we do we report it to the police and they would come and do their routine check and that's really about all we can do."
Hanna told National Review, "We've got 5,000, 6,000, 10,000 little boxes in one day and let's just say someone brings a bale of sugar and says 'this is sugar', and they have something in the middle, you can't check it."
To get an idea of how a properly functioning port should work, we also visited the Nassau Container Port at Arawak Cay -- having received special clearance to step foot in secure areas of the facility, for safety and security reasons.
Any discussion about the port would be vacuous without the context of the controversy that erupted when the Ingraham administration signed off on the deal for its development.
In 2010 when the then prime minister tabled the executed MOU in Parliament, detailing the agreement between the government and APD Limited, the Nassau Container Port operating company, the then opposition Progressive Liberal Party said there were a number of "unconscionable provisions" in the MOU that not only support a special interest group, but would put the economic advancement of The Bahamas at risk.
Claiming that development of the port was creating environmental hazards, the PLP also said it was in the best interest of Bahamians that the port be moved to a different location.
That idea of a port re-location was impractical, and was no longer discussed once the PLP took office. Once the subject of intense controversy, the Nassau Container Port operates today under the political radar -- a contemporary and seemingly efficient port.
In May of this year, the Caribbean Development Bank ranked NCP as the most efficient port in its Caribbean 12 port study, and in October 2016, the Caribbean Shipping Association awarded NCP the award for dependability and flexibility. According to information we got from the NCP, the Bahamas government earns approximately $0.25 of every $1 the port collects, "which is unprecedented".
Shareholders receive an annual dividend on their investment of $50 million. But all of that is an aside. Our recent visit to the port was not about examining whether the business arrangements and political considerations that led to its development had paid off for any special interests, but about seeing the operations close up.
We were met by Mike Maura, chief executive officer of APD Limited, who was the key driver in the relocation of the disorganized shipping operations from Bay Street, and who oversees operations at NCP, which employs around 350 Bahamians full time. Back when the shipping facilities were downtown, international carriers operated at five wharfs.
Each wharf had its own distinct character and customs personnel. The experience for both the importer and customs officer would have varied by wharf.
For example, on Kelly Dock, operations were extremely congested, challenging both customs controllers and customer experience, while at John Alfred Dock, the much larger facility provided room for the safe operation of the customs container scanner.
The vast difference between wharfs and the customs inspection capabilities would have influenced cargo routing with the unscrupulous importers directing their cargo to those wharfs with insufficient controls, at the expense of the legitimate importer.
"It was Bahamians that changed and relocated shipping from Bay Street to Arawak Cay," Maura said. "We didn't go outside to get someone to do it; we did it. The same can happen at Potter's Cay but it's going to take someone saying, 'It needs to happen and it's going to have to happen by us'.
"But until someone stands up and says that, it's not going to be any different from what we see." High security Maura said NCP adheres to international best practices as it relates to safety and security.
In one high-security area of the port, several workers stared intently at multiple monitors covering just about every area of the facility, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity.
They help ensure that people who are supposed to be at the port are at the port doing what it is they are supposed to be doing. Those who enter the secure areas must carry transportation workers' identification credentials, which are issued after strict background checks.
Truckers are told exactly where to go to drop off empty containers and exactly where to go to collect loaded containers. So there is no reason for truckers to be in an area that they should not be in. The truckers have no access to the facility unless the port's IT system shows that the containers are available for pick up. The containers have special seals to discourage anyone from tampering with them.
They will soon be fitted with special GPS locks. Port officials will be able to track where containers are taken to ensure they end up where they are supposed to be, and that there are no suspicious stops along the way. There are numerous other checks and balances, a seemingly strong safety culture, and layers of security -- including a new canine unit with dogs trained to sniff for drugs, money and guns.
"At the Nassau Container Port, with all the bells and whistles -- we've got canine dogs sniffing for drugs; sniffing for guns; we've got a Customs Examination Unit now where customs has a team where they're stripping the containers right there on the dock; we have a container scanner; we've got highly trained port professionals all over the place, and we still have guns being smuggled across our dock; we still got money; we still got drugs," Maura said. Because of the high security environment, he believes many would-be smugglers are discouraged, however.
This makes Potter's Cay, with its uncontrolled environment, a prime spot. National security Maura described it as a national security risk.
The multi-million-dollar upgrade currently underway at Potter's Cay is designed to improve aesthetics and appears beneficial to the food vendors who operate from the site and those who visit for recreation and entertainment. But Potter's Cay needs much more than to be prettied up.
"To allow it to operate as it has, I think from a national security perspective isn't best practice," Maura said. "To think it (smuggling) is not happening at Potter's Cay, you're living with your head in the sand. "It's happening at Potter's Cay. And so do we continue to sit where we are and do nothing about it, or do we try to attack this epidemic with crime, and Potter's Cay is a part of it?
"Potter's Cay is a part of the problem. I would say today equal to or greater than the Nassau Container Port, but at least the Nassau Container Port is investing in [measures] that help to combat it." NCP officials have written the Ministry of Transport offering APD's administrative services at Potter's Cay.
"The thought would be that to engage a company like APD to provide the administrative controls at Potter's Cay and then allow Bahamas customs and immigration and whomever else they deem appropriate to put a select number of officers on site, because I don't think they have the resources to overrun Potter's Cay," he said.
"So use a private entity like APD that has a proven track record, that's internationally recognized. "...People are going to migrate to the area that has the least amount of controls, and if they want to move stuff through the Family Islands back to Nassau, this is a place they can do it."
Anything goes Customs Comptroller Charles Turner said Potter's Cay is not a port of entry for customs purposes, but he acknowledged the need for an organized and sustained presence of uniformed officers -- police, customs and immigration. He admitted that currently customs does not have the manpower to have a sustained presence at Potter's Cay, but visits the dock to do spot checks.
"You do have mailboats that move from island to island to Potter's Cay Dock. From time to time, we do send officers to do checks to see what is coming in from those islands, but it is not a port of entry," Turner said.
"We have an investigation section that makes routine trips to see what is coming in there." Collin Cleare, the port facility security officer at NCP, who outlined intricate security rules at that facility, believes the time has long passed to bring order to Potter's Cay.
"We (at the container port) watch the ships from out to sea; we watch the ship as it comes into port and we keep a camera on the ship while it is in port to keep everybody honest," Cleare told National Review. No such surveillance happens a few minutes' drive at Potter's Cay, where anything goes, apparently.
"Being an ex DEU officer, I can tell you a lot of stories with things happening around Potter's Cay Dock with people smuggling weapons, drugs and money inside there," Cleare said.
"There has to be greater measures there, especially emphasis put on surveillance; some checks and balances should be in place to stop people from approaching these vessels at will. "I think what Potter's Cay lacks is that law enforcement challenge."
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