By L.K. Hewlett
Members of the Board of Directors for St. Christopher Air and Sea Port Authority held a conference at the R.L. Bradshaw Airport on Wednesday.
During the discussions, key issues were discussed in relation to the new direction of SCASPA.
Linkon Maynard, Chairman of the Board, introduced the new management team – newly appointed Delcia Bradley-King, Public Relations and Customer Service Manager; Samer Jumean (of PricewaterhouseCoopers), Transitional General Manager and Chief Executive Officer; Errol Douglas, Chief Operating Officer; Gloria Esdaille, Head of Human Resources and Bernadette Lawrence, Chief Financial Officer.
Maynard noted that SCASPA is aggressively and actively recruiting a permanent CEO and Sea Port Manager.
“This new Board of Directors was appointed about 15 months ago, and we have been grappling with many issues which confront both the Air and Sea Ports,” Maynard said. “We have set about the task of restructuring the authority to enable it to fulfil its mandate, and to thus be in a position to be an effective vehicle for the facilitation of economic development in our Federation.”
Jumean addressed issues such as the current tarmac expansion project, earning capacity, security, customer service and tariff adjustments.
“We have to improve our revenue-collecting system in the short, medium and long term if we are to service our debts.
The traditional combined earnings generated by the Air and Sea ports is around $28 million, whereas the operational costs and insurance is in the region of $20 million. That leaves a net earnings of approximately $8 million,” Jumean said. “SCASPA acquired a US $17 million loan to extend the runway and aircraft parking area to accommodate six wide bodied jets, and we have to repay the bank for that loan.”
The R.L. Bradshaw Airport Development Project is being undertaken by a Caribbean contracting firm, Surrey Paving and Aggregates, and construction is reportedly on schedule to be completed by November of this year.
Jumean added that that a new policy will be affected when dealing with major capital projects.
“As part of our restructuring, SCASPA will be adopting a policy regarding major capital projects of entering into partnerships with private sector corporations,” Jumean said.
Jumean explained that one such partnership has already been entered into with Shell Aviation. The company will be funding the construction and operation of a new fuel-farm facility at the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport.
Shell will be providing fuel for all aircraft refuelling in St. Kitts and will in turn pay SCASPA a pre-determined through-port fee for every gallon of fuel provided.
A Commercial Division has been established, and is expected to be very critical to SCASPA as it will precisely focus on tariffs. Jumean said these tariffs have been in existence since 1993 and need to be adjusted. It was not made clear whether SCASPA would be increasing these existing tariffs and if so, which tariffs would be affected.
Along with expanding revenues, SCASPA emphasised their plan to tightly control operating costs, while pointing out that it did not mean they would necessarily be downsizing the staff of more than 400 employees.
Maynard said the SCASPA Management is currently preparing a five-year plan for development of both the airport and seaport to accommodate the ever changing challenges that these facilities face. He continued by saying the ultimate goal of SCASPA is to provide the public with the best products and services possible as St. Kitts prepares to welcome the world to its shores.
