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Haitian Cargo Ships Present Too Great A Risk To Bahamas National Security
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Ban on Haitian boat would double import costs:
By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Business Desk -
Nassau, Bahamas:



A pending ban on Haitian sloops in our waters could take the wind out of the sails of a business that has only begun to develop – entirely legal trade between Haiti and The Bahamas.

Last week, Director of Immigration Vernon Burrows confirmed the policy change, suggesting those cargo ships present too great a risk to national security. While the wooden-hulled vessels are suspected of playing a major role in the trafficking of drugs, guns and humans, they're also the only freighters that conduct regular and direct import runs from the impoverished nation.

It is, of course, the homeland of an increasing number of Bahamians and a target for local businesses looking to trim supply costs.

The government decision represents yet another hurdle in the latter's path and is most likely an answer to requests from American officials.

Just last month, the new U.S. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report stated the American embassy was working with the government of The Bahamas to invoke regulations prohibiting wooden-hulled sailing freighters from Bahamian waters. According to that document, "Bahamian law enforcement officials identified shipments of drugs in Haitian sloops and coastal freighters."

The decision to turn those ships away from Arawak Cay and other Bahamian ports has been many times applauded; however, the move means businesses involved in Haiti/Bahamas trade will have to look to other, less direct and likely more expensive routes. Passenger flights to and from Haiti can run an average of $600, with cargo itineraries sporadic and adding thousands of dollars onto the import of commercial goods.

Pamela Forbes Saint Merant is one Bahamian now using these boats for business purposes. She is just in the beginning stages of importing goods like aluminum cooking pots, construction materials and food products from that market; she expects to double what she would have made had she continued buying her wares from the U.S.

As she sees it, the presence of these vessels is not the problem, but rather the lack of structural oversight.

"The only challenge I have right now is the boating system, everything needs to be in a proper schedule," St. Merant told Guardian Business in an earlier interview. "Many of those boats are from the 1950-60s and they just need proper maintenance and they could be more reliable."

St. Merant will likely now have to consider falling back into the traditional way of shipping goods from Haiti, specifically use of a Florida middleman. That intermediate step may ultimately prove cost-prohibitive for small, fledgling businesses like hers. She could not be reached for comment Friday.

The loss of that direct route could be felt by other Bahamian merchants that have only now begun to consider direct trade with our neighbor to the south.

Use of Haitian sloops could work to the benefit of the overall economy if Florida repeals a six percent sales tax exemption on exports early next year. The move would likely drive local importers to look elsewhere for their inventory supply. Haiti has, in fact, ramped up its manufacturing industry on the strength of growing international investment and the relatively low cost of its labor. Those factors could help Bahamian business shave as much as 50 percent off import costs on items like tourist souvenirs and apparel.

Adding up her own expenses, St. Merant, a Bahamian entrepreneur of Haitian parentage, said she pays on average one dollar (U.S.) for a Haitian-made cooking pot that would go for over $20 in North America. Importing directly using Haitian sloops – for the moment still allowed to dock at Arawak Cay – allows her to pass some of that savings onto consumers, themselves grappling with a spike in the cost of living.

April 21, 2008 | 5:49 PM Comments  0 comments

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