London-listed Global Ports Holding (GPH) has won an exclusive 30-year concession agreement with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for cruise port operations in Antigua.
As well as managing and operating the port, GPH will finance completion of a new pier that will allow the port to handle the world’s largest cruiseships, including Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class and Carnival’s XL class.
Antigua will be GPH’s second concession in the Americas, having last year won a contract to operate the cruise port in Havana, Cuba.
GPH is currently participating in tenders for port concessions in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico, according to chief executive Emre Sayin.
“I would hope to have more positive news there in the future,” Sayin told TradeWinds by phone on Friday.
The chief executive said the Caribbean, which accounts for 35% of all cruise voyages, is a region of strategic growth for GPH, which is the world's largest independent cruise port operator.
The company has used funds raised by listing on the London Stock Exchange in May 2017 to diversify its concessions away from the Mediterranean to also include the Americas and Asia.
Sayin said “geopolitical shifts” have, however, forced the company to put its Asian expansion on hold for the time being, although its existing concession in Singapore is doing “incredibly well”.
The Antigua concession also includes food and beverage and retail outlets in the project area, which is part of GPH’s strategy to extend passengers' cruise experience from the ship to the shore, Sayin said.
The contract win brings GPH’s global coverage up to 18 port concessions in 10 countries worldwide, of which 16 are cruise terminals.
GPH concentrates on working with governments in nations with tourism-focused economies, particularly where port infrastructure and operations could be upgraded.
“We try to be the best partner a government can have to operate a cruise port,” Sayin said.
