Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 05, 2019 (SKNIS): Construction of the 2nd Cruise Pier at Port Zante, St. Kitts, is now complete.
Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Lindsay Grant made the announcement on Monday, November 04, 2019, at the opening of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Operations Committee Meeting held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort. The meeting was attended by executives of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Line and MSC Cruises as well as officials from the St. Christopher Air and Sea Port Authority (SCASPA), and Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and St. Kitts Tourism Authority, taxi drivers, tour operators, and others who ply their trade in the tourism sector.
The new pier was constructed at a cost of approximately US$48 million through a collaborative venture with four local entities. The financial players were the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, which committed US$34 million; the St. Kitts and Nevis Social Security Board which pledged US$7 million; the St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation with US$5 million, and the St. Kitts and Nevis Trading and Development Company Ltd. (TDC) which committed another US$2 million.
“Why we are so proud of this new development is not because we have built a new pier … but this pier, the US$48 or so million that we’ve spent [was] all locally financed,” Minister Grant stated. “The second pier will have the capacity to host, with the other one, three oasis-class ships at Port Zante all at once. This is something that few Caribbean destinations are able to do and it gives us another competitive edge in the cruise industry as the lines begin moving forward towards larger ships.”
FCCA President Michele Paige added that during interaction with other countries, “I’ve heard we can’t do it. I have never heard that from anyone in St. Kitts that you can’t do it. When we say we need something you say we can do it and we can do it better than anyone else.”
Minister Grant challenged stakeholders to continue finding new ways to innovate and collaborate with each other and with the government to enhance the experience for all visitors.
St. Kitts and Nevis is the only destination in the OECS to achieve one million cruise passenger arrivals in two consecutive cruise seasons. This was achieved in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.
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