Exciting prospects for the free trade zone at the crossroads of commerce

ONCE nothing but swamp and scrub, Freeport is a 200-square-mile free trade zone on Grand Bahama island and the second city of The Bahamas. Its strategic location close to the east coast of Florida, puts it at a crossroads of regional and global commerce.
Freeport Harbor is a port of call for many cruise lines and more than a million tourists a year come to enjoy the mild subtropical climate, extensive leisure facilities and cosmopolitan nightlife. The closest offshore port to the United States, it is one of the deepest natural harbors in the region. With an entrance that is 500ft wide and 47ft deep, and a turning basin depth of 44ft, it can accommodate even the largest of vessels.

Freeport Container Port (FCP) is a dedicated transshipment hub. Recent extensive upgrading and expansion has boosted handling capacity and throughput volumes with the aid of the latest technology and computer systems. Within a 10-minutes drive is Freeport International Airport, averaging nearly 50,000 flights a year.
The major provider and developer of services in the free trade zone is the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), which holds development, management and quasi-governmental powers within the zone’s boundaries under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, of 1955. Under the agreement–recently extended to 2054–businesses in the zone pay no taxes on profits, capital gains, inheritance, income, earnings, distributions or on imported and exported goods.
Executive Vice President Barry Malcolm explains, "GBPA is a private sector company but it has municipal responsibilities, so we ensure that there is direct policy guidance for development of the city.

"We provide all the regulatory functions and administrative functions.We ensure that the city has municipal services. We are charged with providing all of the governmental or municipal services one would require for a city of this size and we’ve done that over the years in a number of ways, including investing in various enterprises required for the development of the city."

Infrastructure, he says, is the key. Freeport boasts about 400 miles of paved roads and 20-30 miles of canals. "We’ve put in sufficient infrastructure to accommodate a city of a quarter of a million people. Over the past 30 years, we’ve developed about 50,000 plots of real estate for homes, hotels, etc. We’ve built all the schools. We have the largest privately-owned airport in the world, a hospital and several state-of-the-art clinics."
Mr. Malcolm sees Grand Bahama as the ideal center from which to conduct international business in the
western hemisphere. "We have the quality of life, which is very important. We have the ability to move goods all over the world at rates that are cheaper than most places in the world.

"We have a good collection of companies that will ensure that you have good human resource capabilities within the city. We have others who have proven that this is a good place to do business, and we have excellent tourism amenities and new business services coming on stream."
He describes Freeport as "the center which holds the greatest set of possibilities for this country." He anticipates growth taking place in a number of areas over the next 10-20 years, particularly in tourism, real estate and industrial development, and new business services.
But he identifies development of maritime services–"the stand-out accomplishment" of the last nine years–as the area with the most exciting potential.

"It has seen a tremendous amount of growth in such a short period of time, but more importantly it lays the foundation for continued and substantial growth.
"We have plans over the next 10 years to continue to develop our harbor. We have a fairly integrated, very impressive and well-structured marine facility. We can handle any number of vessels. We can pull them out of the water, repair them, handle containers, small commercial vessels, cruise ships, and we also handle the maintenance and repair of luxury yachts."