Port Manager's Overview of the Economic & Social Transformation Impact on Ports

Mr. Darwin Telemaque, Antigua Port Authority Manager, addressed the Members of the Rotary Club of Antigua at its Luncheon Meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 2015.  His address as follows:

It is sometimes agreed that those involved in Port Management focus almost exclusively on what is happening within the boundaries of those facilities.

However, in an increasingly complexed global and economic environment, there is a real risk that a fixation on the innards of a Port can serve to stymie economic development rather than facilitate growth.

In an era in which economic stagnation and non-competitiveness have a direct impact on the ability of Governments to access capital needed to maintain facilities and rising Port charges being seen by some as having a deleterious effect in trade, the emergence of the Port Management Executive as economic development expert has never been more crucial.

The new Port executive has to be a key log in the machine that is the economy.  That makes the new Port Manager amongst other things , part economist, part analyst, part psychologist and perhaps more importantly full partner and stakeholder with the commercial community.

To effectively achieve its national objective, the Port Authority has to be an efficient partner along the supply chain.

As a matter of fact, our highest priority is to ensure that we are delivering efficient services that can facilitate efficient costing.

As the gateway to the economy, the Port has to play its role in economic enhancement and social transformation.

The notion that what happens as the "Rat Island stays at Rat Island" has never been and will never be true.  Everything we do impacts us all at the cash register.

Over the past few years, we have had significant issues plaguing the establishment.  High cost, low productivity, limited human resource capacity, operational and equipment challenges which lead to the big F- Financial woes ensued.

In recent times however, we have manoeuvred our way from the bottom of the ladder to a few notches above the water.