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MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019
$4.24 Royal Caribbean targets western Paradise Island
MICHAEL BAYLEY By NEIL HARTNELL and NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporters ROYAL Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) is acquiring real estate at Paradise Island’s western end in a bid to develop what is thought to be a “getaway destination” for its passengers. Multiple sources have confirmed to Tribune Business that the cruise line has quietly been acquiring or bidding on properties near the lighthouse that is a key Nassau harbour landmark, with some already under contract. Government and Royal Caribbean principals were last week tight-lipped on the cruise line’s Paradise Island plans, but did not refute their existence or its likely development strategy. Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean International’s president and chief executive, did not comment
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GALLERIA Cinemas has won permission to appeal a judgment, which its attorney says threatens to “stagnate” the Bahamian creative economy, to the London-based Privy Council.
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Ex-boss ‘robbed’ ferry firm of Bahamas route By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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HE former chief executive of Balearia Caribbean must pay his ex-employer $2.844m in damages for effectively stealing the Resorts World Bimini ferry contract from under them. The Spanish ferry operator, which already services Freeport from Fort Lauderdale on an almost-daily basis, was deprived of the chance to bid on the Bimini deal because Hernan Calvo concealed the opportunity from it. Calvo, according to a US court ruling obtained by Tribune Business, first entered into secret talks to steer the Resorts World contract to a rival Argentinian ferry company, Buquebus. When it pulled out in April 2016, he found a German transportation company, Forde Reederei Seetouristik GmbH (FRS), to take over the deal and it duly signed a contract with
Galleria’s copyright fight to Privy Council By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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Gregory Moss told Tribune Business that the cinema operator’s 18-year battle with the Performing Rights Society (PRS) was “a very important case” for the development of all artistic “genres” and determining what the Copyright Act’s provisions really mean.
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the Commonwealth of The Bahamas figures prominently in any proposed tourism activity affecting The Bahamas,” Balearia, in its original action, alleged. “Calvo, as Balearia Caribbean’s chief executive, knew that on Balearia Caribbean’s existing ferry operations between Fort Lauderdale and Grand Bahama, Balearia Caribbean was able to obtain through negotiations a reimbursement of certain marketing expenses from the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas as an incentive to promote these ferry operations. “Calvo also held discussions with Bahamian government representatives when he was negotiating the Genting ferry deal for Balearia Caribbean, and these discussions would
WTO tariff cut fears for ‘40,000 Bahamian jobs’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
have included the marketing reimbursement tourism incentive. “Calvo kept [Balearia] in the dark about the discussions he was having with representatives of the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas at the time he was also negotiating the Genting ferry deal.” Balearia claimed that a representative for Genting Group, the Malaysian conglomerate that owns Resorts World, informed it that the agreement with FRS involved the ferry operator “ceding to Genting the marketing incentives that FRS would obtain from the Bahamian government”. In other words, Resorts World and Genting would be the ones to benefit from
LOCAL contractors have voiced mixed reactions to fears that a WTO-induced 50 percent tariff rate cut on prefabricated buildings “puts 40,000 Bahamian construction jobs at risk”. A March 7 letter, being circulated to “all Bahamian construction industry participants”, warns that cutting the import tariff on pre-fabricated homes from the current 45 percent to 20 percent - as is proposed by The Bahamas’ original World Trade Organisation (WTO) goods offer - presents “serious dangers” for Bahamian contractors and their employees. Pre-fabricated buildings are largely constructed abroad, and then broken down before being shipped to The Bahamas and other countries in “modules”, which can then easily and quickly be assembled once they reach their destination. Arguing that the proposed tariff reduction represents a major competitive threat, especially in a stagnant
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• Ordered to pay Balearia $2.844m • Held secret incentive talks with govt • Marketing rebates went to Bimini resort the Bimini resort’s owner. Judge Kathleen Williams found that Calvo, while still working at Balearia, was competing against his thenemployer for two months over the Resorts World deal prior to his eventual departure. She ruled that he had “breached his fiduciary duty” to the Spanish ferry operator, and therefore needed to pay it $2.844m compensation for loss of profits. Documents filed with the the US south Florida federal court, which have been obtained by Tribune Business, also allege that Calvo kept secret negotiations he was holding with the Bahamian government over investment incentives for the Resorts World Bimini ferry route. “The Government of
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