Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer

A view of the cruise ship, 'Freedom of the Seas' which docked in Montego Bay earlier this year. - File

Western Bureau:

Jamaica's inadequate and substandard berthing facilities were high on the agenda of cruise officials at the just completed Florida Caribbean Cruise Association Conference in Grand Cayman.

The island has had to refuse approximately 200 calls from cruise liners, losing millions of dollars in revenue annually, as a result of insufficient space for ships to dock.

The issue has caused several of the island's operators of attractions to blast the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), blaming it for its tardiness in expanding the country's two major ports, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay.

"We are the most sought-after destination in the region, yet we don't get the people other ports in the Caribbean are getting, because we have had to refuse so many ships," bemoaned Marilyn Burrowes, president of the Association of Jamaica Attractions and owner of Dolphin Cove.

Association of Jamaica Attractions represents over 70 Jamaican attractions, including the world-famous Dunn's River Falls, the region's largest marine facility, Prospect Plantation and Rafting on the Martha Brae.

Frustrated

It is at least five years since the PAJ has been promising to deal with the challenges, but to no avail, says Judi Schoenbein, general manager of Appleton Estate Rum Tour.

Schoenbein, who holds vice-president positions at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association and Association of Jamaica Attractions, in a no-holds-barred interview, told The Sunday Gleaner that she had become extremely frustrated with the powers that be.

Said she: "It is obvious that no adequate progress has been made for the expansion of both ports. I am tired of being asked by cruise executives when we are going to have our ports up to standard and capacity."

Ms. Schoenbein noted that the current Urban Development Corporation (UDC) Reynolds Pier in Ocho Rios, had become an eyesore and a disgrace and has been a bone of contention and indecision for five years.

"Basically, we have to make up our minds if the Reynolds Pier is going to remain a commercial port or a cruise ship port," she explained.

The Reynolds Pier (James Bond Pier) doubles as a bauxite and cruise ship port, along with the UDC Pier, which was originally built to accommodate two ships in the 1990s, but can now handle one ship owing to the trend of the contemporary mega liners.

With less than a year and a half left for the arrival of the world's largest ship, the Genesis into the Caribbean, Mrs. Schoenbein, fears that the country is going to miss the boat.

world's largest ship

Already, the island's competitors, Port Zante in St. Kitts, is being developed to tune of US$80 million; St. Maarten is spending a similar figure, with Grand Cayman scheduled to build four new berths in 2007.

"The cruise lines are turning the ports into resorts and branded destinations and Jamaica is not moving fast enough," warned Schoenbein.

Responding to the concerns of the cruise industry, PAJ's vice-president of marketing, Rosalie Donaldson said, "We are aware that there is a need for additional berthing facilities and are working assiduously to rectify the situation."

Admitting that the country has had to turn back business every year, she said discussions are now going on between the UDC and the operators of Reynolds Pier.

"We should have two additional port facilities in Montego Bay by the second half of 2007," she revealed.

In the meantime, Princess Cruise Line's vice-president of the Caribbean and Atlantic Shore operations, Stephen Neilsen, has confirmed that his company has a ship that accommodates 3,500 passengers that he is trying to get into Ocho Rios, but there is no where to dock.