7 News Belize

The Fantastic Four; Can they Bend Carnival Corporation’s Will?
posted (January 6, 2011)
Tender operators worked as normal today in the Belize Harbour - but there are grave concerns for their future as Carnival Cruise Lines has changed its policy on the size of tenders that can transport its visitors.

That's why tonight the Prime Minister is in Miami leading a delegation which will meet with Cruise Line Executives tomorrow. They will negotiate to have the Cruise Lines hold back on implementation of their new policy and continue to use the tenders which employ close to a hundred Belizeans.

7news was at the airport when the group left today:…

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We need to signal to the cruise lines that as a country we take this possible crisis very seriously and therefore it seems to me that its absolutely correct that I go personally."

And with that the PM, Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia, CEO Lindsey Garbutt and Tourism Director Seleni Matus set off on a singular mission.

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We are going to meet with certainly two of the three, or the two major cruise lines and the idea is to see if we can reach some arrangement that would avert this implementation of this new policy at least short term."

In the immediate term - meaning today - the tender operators did get a day's reprieve - ferrying passengers off three Carnival cruise ships that made calls on Belize. And while they've argued that they were given no notice from Carnival, that is a matter of some dispute.

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In terms of the tender operators, they had no notice, we cannot allow in my view for their business to be eliminated in one fell swoop without any prior notification. Certainly I can't understand why there was no prior notification of the desire to change policy. One answer to that that has been given was that there was such notification, that in fact Carnival contracts tender services, who in turn sub-contracts, and that main provider was told some time ago that these are the changes that Carnival wishes to make and it is my understanding that Carnival felt that that main provider would in turn inform the sub-contractors. Now that wasn't done. At this juncture I have to confess to you that I still am not certain where - and I am not going to shy away from the word - the fault lies in terms of not giving the owners of these smaller tenders any opportunity to transition, any opportunity to prepare for the shift in policy."

So it's not Carnival's fault, per se, but still the government will insist for the tender operators to retain their foothold in the industry:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In terms of strategy and in terms of tactics, it dates me but was it The Temptations who sang a song, 'Ain't Too Proud to Beg'? If I have to beg I will beg, if I have to curse and kick and threaten I will do that, I don't know how much leverage I have."

But he knows they do not have enough leverage to drive the hardest bargain:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I don't know that we could ever easily contemplate a situation in which we say to the cruise lines 'well listen, government's position is you will not do this; we will not allow you to do this and if you don't like it, you can walk away.' Now any cost benefit analysis will tell you that makes no sense. We don't in any way mean to sacrifice any of the tender operators but at the same time you cannot pursue a course of action that could succeed in collapsing the entire industry thus putting not just the tender operators out of business but all those people who benefit from the unsure traffic that the cruise sector also provides."

The meetings in Miami will be held tomorrow with Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. The team returns on Sunday and we'll have the results in Monday's newscast.

It is of note that Carnival Cruise Line has introduced an across the board new corporate policy requiring all tenders to have a minimum capacity of 150 persons and that all tenders be insured through the P&I Club for $2 Million USD.

The PUP today issued a release saying that if the negotiations don't produce a favorable outcome, quote: "the PUP stands ready to join forces with these tourism stakeholders to do whatever is necessary to protect local interests."

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