Bahamas News
BAHAMAS: PM touts Maritime Industry as another means to diversify the economy
#Bahamas, May 15, 2018 – Nassau – Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis has extolled the potential of the maritime sector as another way to diversify the economy. He made the observation during the Official Christening Ceremony of Tugboats Samson and Rose at Prince George Dock on Monday, May 14, 2018.
“The maritime sector holds great promise for The Bahamas, and is another sector for increased diversification,” the Prime Minister said. “There are approximately 5,000 jobs Bahamians can be trained for in the international maritime industry.”
The new-state-of-the art vessels valued at $15 million, will complement the Government’s tugboats fleet in rendering service to cruise ships coming in port and emergency services to smaller vessels.
The Prime Minister deemed it an honour to participate in the christening ceremony. And he particularly noted that Tug Samson was named in honour of the late Sir Durward Knowles – the first Bahamian to win an Olympic medal, for sailing. He died at age 100.
“Today would not have been possible without Sir Durward Knowles, who departed this life just this past February,” the Prime Minister said. “Sir Durward’s memory and legacy will live on in many ways and in many places, including with the inauguration of the new service provided by these 
state of the art tug boats,” he added.
Tugs Samson and Rose will be operated by Tug Services Limited, a 100 percent Bahamian-owned and operated company. The Government of The Bahamas entered into a 15-year contractual lease arrangement with Tug Services Limited, which began April 1, 2018.
“These are the kinds of public/private partnerships which help to provide certain necessary services,” the Prime Minister said.
The agreement calls for Tug Services Ltd. to provide two 50-ton bollard pull, Azimuth Stern Drive, tug boats, on a daily timed charter. It also includes management services, crew, firefighting, oil spill recovery; salvage capabilities and vessel maintenance for tug services at Nassau Harbour and Clifton Pier.
With its world-class equipment and experienced Bahamian staff, Tug Services Limited has the task of providing tugboat services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year for the next 15 years to “ensure the safety and enhance the competitiveness” of Nassau Harbour and Clifton Pier. This also includes reliable service during poor weather and in emergencies.
Tugs Rose and Samson are on the cutting edge of technology. They are a 60-ton vessel and a 70-ton vessel, respectively. Both contain life jackets, immersion suit life rafts, portable fire extinguishers, lifebuoys and other emergency equipment. The tugboats also contain an external firefighting system, which is powered by a Caterpillar C32 engine, with two general service pumps that can be used for bilge/ballast/internal firefighting.
The Prime Minister congratulated Tug Boat Services Ltd. and its management and staff for this milestone. He also thanked the officials in his administration and in the former administration, who were involved in negotiating and finalizing this agreement.
The Government is reviewing other possible public/private partnerships in a number of areas in the maritime and transport sectors.
“This is all a part of our program of modernization of public services, including in the generation of electricity; the installation of fibre optics throughout the government-operated school system and solarization and renewable energy projects,” the Prime Minister said.
By: Lindsay Thompson (BIS)
Photo Captions:
Header: Christening of the tugboats – pictured from left: Commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Tellis Bethel, the Right Reverend Gilbert Thompson, Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis, Lady Holly Knowles, Charlotte Albury, and Captain Ritchie.
Insert: Prime Minister Minnis, during his address.
BIS Photos/Peter Ramsay
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
