Page 74: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2013)

74 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? NOVEMBER 2013 The recent 2013-14 National Budget of Trinidad and Tobago Þ rmly highlighted the govern- ment?s intention to endorse Shipbuilding and Repair as a means of diversifying our traditional oil and gas economy. Trinidad & Tobago is in the middle of the world?s shipping lanes with an approximate 31,000 voyages per year passing within 25 nautical miles, po-sitioning the location as an attractive choice for vessels traversing these prin-cipal routes. In addition, approximately 14,000 ocean-going vessels pass through the Panama Canal each year and this is expected to double after mid-2015, with the completion of the ongoing $5.25 bil-lion expansion. Two major dry docking project propos- als, are being spearheaded by local Ship-building & Repair stakeholders, namely Etienne Mendez of Trinidad Dry Dock Company Limited (TDDCL) at Sea Lots and Chivon Thornhill of New World Shipyards Limited, at La Brea. In addi-tion to the core dry docking facilities, it is the intention that TDDCL will maxi- mize the potential of their Sea Lots proj-ect by embarking on the development of a number of on-site, downstream proj-ects including a Marine and Industrial Park, and Residential and Commercial Centers, resulting in facilities that cater to their own internal requirements.As mentioned in the recent National Budget, the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) has en- gaged China Harbor Engineering Com-pany Limited (CHEC) which is a world-renowned international contractor that is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) for a feasibility study, revolving around the establishment of a new trans-ship-ment port with dry docking facilities to be included and also located in La Brea, south western Trinidad. This is to be Þ nanced by a small part of a Three bil- lion United States dollar developmental aid package on offer (since 2011) by the Government of the People?s Republic of China to the Caribbean island region and is available on the basis of Þ rst come, Þ rst served. The dry docking facilities proposed by New World Shipyards Lim- ited is a separate project to be Þ nanced mainly by private sector equity inves-tors, but will be considered holistically, as part of the overall port development planning process.Simultaneously, the extension of the highway to Point Fortin, through La Brea will deÞ nitely hasten and encourage the development of the south western pen-insula, as a designated growth pole area. This is in keeping with an SRDC pro-posal to the current administration for in-terim use of a part of the newly built, 300 meter long former ALUTRINT Smelter dock and underutilized warehousing, lo-cated at Brighton Port, La Brea immedi-ately adjacent to where offshore oil and gas steel platforms are currently being fabricated. This location is situated away from Chaguaramas which is located in the North-western part of Trinidad, and has long been seriously constrained by one road access and egress already ex-ceeding its maximum vehicle carrying capacity. The lack of available lands for new tenancy in the development of ad-ditional deepwater shore side operations is also a disadvantage.On the August 29, 2013 a consultation on the Draft Strategic Plan for the Mari-time Industry for the period 2013-2018 was held at The Courtyard Marriot, In- vaders Bay, port of Port of Spain. This timely review of the existing Strategic Plan was completed by KPMG, a global advisory with ofÞ ces in Trinidad and Tobago and hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment and the Maritime Industry Development Com-mittee, now chaired by Mr. Ernest Ash- ley Taylor, President of the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corpora-tion Limited.Among the suggestions made at this consultation by the SRDC, is that urgent and serious dialogue be jointly under- taken with the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs, The Ministry of Finance and the Economy and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investments, with regard to the provision of competitive marine bunkering fuel cost (available to both local and international ships) which can be used as an incentive for more ships to not only utilize our bunkering services, but other supporting maritime services, including ship repairs, logis-tics, ship stores, etc. This will create a demand curve for these and other related services, thereby encouraging the rapid growth of our domestic maritime sector, which is highly labor intensive. Trinidad and Tobago can quickly be- come an international magnet for com-petitive maritime services, in much the same way as both the Republic of Sin-gapore and the Republic of Panama have achieved, by using their strategic geographic and competitive advantage to beneÞ t their economies. The comple- tion of the new Ultra Low Sulfer Diesel (ULSD) Unit being Þ nalized by Sam- sung Engineering, as part of Petrotrin?s Clean Fuels Program in its continuing effort to improve the pro Þ tability of the Pointe-a-Pierre Gulf of Paria reÞ nery will support this move, while meeting the stringent new diesel quality speciÞ -cations required for the global shipping market. Already, one global ship owner, Olden- dorff Carriers GmbH & Co. KG with its headquarters located in Lübeck, Germa-ny has established an offshore iron ore Trinidad & TobagoTrinidad & Tobago Maritime Sector Shipbuilding, Repair endorsed by government to diversify economyMR #11 (74-81).indd 74MR #11 (74-81).indd 7411/12/2013 4:11:32 PM11/12/2013 4:11:32 PM