The recent announcement of solicitation of bids for the construction of a cruise-ship port for the capital, George Town will, we hope, lead to an overall reconsideration of the long term future of the entire downtown environment, including the cargo-handling facilities, pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and the needs of downtown merchants, businesses, and residents as well as visitors.

One thing that is, unfortunately, a foregone conclusion in this respect is the years past and current predictable opposition of the vested interests in the existing tender operations that currently transport passengers from the cruise ships to the ports.

Even though this type of operation has clearly had its day, those involved are still more than capable of disrupting constructive discussion of the cruise port development – as the previous Minister for Tourism, Charles Clifford, knows only too well.

In August last year, then minister Clifford and ship-to-shore tender operators charged each other with misleading the public about the implications for cruise-passenger services.

Who was telling the truth in that particular situation was never resolved but we hope that it will serve as a forewarning of the type of disruptive controversy that may well erupt again if steps are not taken to head it off.

In any event, the mere proposal of cruise ship berths will doubtless be the genesis of another battle in the ongoing war between an unlikely alliance of the vested interests in the existing tendering system and environmentalists on the one hand, and those that stand to benefit from the provision of cruise ship berths – probably the rest of the population – on the other.

However, we are heartened by the new Chairman of Port Authority, Stefan Baraud’s remarks that local participation in the redevelopment process will be encouraged. Yes, this type of marine engineering requires a considerable degree of specialist knowledge and experience but, nevertheless, we are confident that local designers, contractors and sources for financing are available locally and will be treated fairly in the process.

Even if the government pursues its intention to engage in a public-private financing partnership, surely some of our largest contractors have the necessary financial clout to be able to participate on equal terms with any foreign entity.

We have already seen the disastrous financial and design fallout from parceling out design and construction contracts to foreign entities who may have local partners but who will in the long run still take their profits and run – leaving the country with debts to pay.

In Mr Baraud’s own words, “It makes no sense to wholesale this out to foreign entities.”

And, for goodness sake, let’s deal with the entire situation in George Town at the same time. It makes no sense simply to construct new finger piers or alternative designs that will accommodate the largest cruise ships if no effort is made to manage the increased flow of pedestrian traffic that will now walk off the ships instead of being landed by tender as hitherto.

For years there has been conflict between the needs of pedestrians, notably cruise ship passengers, and vehicular traffic in George Town, often exacerbated by the exigencies of having the cargo port located in town.

And why should the thousands of residents who converge to work and shop downtown not be brought in to the mix to enjoy their own downtown?

Any relocation of the cargo facilities is clearly a much longer term proposition but must nevertheless be part of the holistic or phased in (out) planning for George Town and its environs.

Provided we can provide the berthing needs for the latest and largest cruise ships, Grand Cayman should remain one of the most sought-after cruise destinations, but we must also be alive to the implications.

As we have pointed out before, the increasing number of mega-ships putting to sea is causing some major headaches for port authorities in popular destinations, which are struggling to cope with the super-sized vessels.

The new 200,000-ton leviathans that are able to carry some 5,000 or more passengers will create issues for George Town – exacerbating the problems that we are already trying to cope with, as already outlined.

There are, nevertheless, potential benefits that should also be taken into account. The construction of adequate berths would allow cruise ships to stay overnight, which might then offer some of the revenue benefits to be gained for the economy from such quasi stay-over visitors – and bringing alive a now deadbeat downtown at night.

Certainly, cruise ships overnighting for between one and three nights will allow visitors to spend more time on the island and to spend more money, which will go some way towards alleviating the effects of the drop-off in stay-over tourism.

But we have to be able to offer visitors a positive and pleasurable experience while they are here – which has very often not been the case in recent or past years.

Our goal should be to ensure so far as practicable that every visitor, whether arriving by air or cruise ship leaves with a positive impression of the Cayman Islands and that they have received good value for money – and return for the pleasure of their visit.