An agreement between a consortium led by Global Ports Holding Plc (GPH) and the Government of the Bahamas that gives the former a 25 year lease on cruise facilities in Nassau through a consortium called Nassau Cruise Port (NCP)is vitally important to both GPH as a company and Nassau as a destination.
GPH, which is headquartered in Istanbul and listed in London, has seen its shares fall by more than half since flotation in 2017. First trouble with cruise ports in the Eastern Mediterranean and lately weak performance of its cargo handling ports in Turkey has disappointed investors.
The company has been in need of good news and major one for that. Such news came today: shares in GPH closed 10% higher at £3.30 on the news.
The fortunes of Nassau took a turn for the better when, earlier in the summer, US based cruise ships were banned to call at Cuban ports by the US President Donald Trump. Nassau is an obvious winner as cruise lines look at new itineraries.
Making the port more interesting to cruise lines and their passengers through major investment should help Nassau to take full advantage of its geographical location close to south Florida and the new situation that has embraced the cruise industry in the Caribbean.
