Govt may have to co-invest in a deep-water port for Guyana – VP Jagdeo

– says facility would end transshipment woes

In light of increasing transshipment challenges that local businesses face in getting goods into the country, the Guyana Government could potentially co-invest in a deep-water port here given the demand for such a facility in this rapidly growing economy.
This was the view of Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo while addressing stakeholders at the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Annual Awards Dinner on Thursday evening in Georgetown. He was at the time speaking about the ongoing industrial dispute in Trinidad and Tobago which has resulted in delays of shipments of goods to Guyana.

According to Jagdeo, “the ultimate solution would be a deep-water port facility in Guyana.”
Since Guyana does not have a deep-water port, vessels would have to go to countries like Trinidad and Jamaica to offload and then transship the goods to Georgetown. Only last year, the local private sector had bemoaned the delays in transshipment after consignments were stuck in those territories ahead of the busy Christmas holidays.
However, the Vice President explained that the reason Guyana has not been able to move forward with this port facility is due to the large-scale investment it would require. He ascertains that the project could run upwards of US$1 billion, hence, the need for the Government to co-finance such a venture.
“To amortise a billion (US) dollars, you really need to have a solid stream of benefits to do that and it can’t be supported by the routine import-export activities of Guyana. So, we need to add additional revenue streams to this. The connection with Brazil is very vital because it will do just that and then the possibility of using Guyana as a hub to transship back into the Caribbean is another revenue stream as well as the expansion of the oil and gas industry in Guyana, particularly the gas component. So, we’re looking at all of these variables…”
“And even, in the future, if the investment can’t stand on its own – that is, the internal rate of return will not justify it, there will have to be Government co-investment to make this a feasible project because the long-term future of Guyana demands, not just requires but demands a deep-water port. It would make a ton of the activities more competitive, and globally competitive because one of the key reasons our export is not competitive in some sectors is because of the higher freight cost. And so, we have to, out of necessity, resolve that issue,” he stressed.

According to the Vice President, this would be one of the major initiatives that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has set its sights on, for its second term in office, as a long-term solution to the country’s shipment woes, which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic when prices for goods skyrocketed due to the increased cost of freights around the world.
Only Monday, the GMSA complained in a statement that the over two months-long industrial dispute between workers and port authority in Trinidad has resulted in significant delays in the clearance of containers carrying goods intended for Guyana.
The GMSA added that businesses in Guyana are experiencing “substantial financial losses, particularly during this critical Christmas season when import volumes are significantly higher.”
The private sector body then called on the Guyana Government to work with their counterparts in the Twin Island Republic to urgently intervene and facilitate a resolution.

But while there is very little Guyana can do to intervene in an industrial dispute in another country, Jagdeo told reporters at a press conference earlier on Thursday that Government is open to suggestions on helping the local private sector transport their goods from ports in Trinidad.
“We are open to ideas, working with the private sector to get their goods out of Trinidad and Tobago,” he stated.
However, addressing the GMSA Dinner that evening, the Vice President assured stakeholders that the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore base facility should provide some short-term relief soon by allowing for greater movement of containers in and out of the country. He added that when the new Demerara River Bridge is opened, containers can also land on the west side of the Demerara River and then goods can be easily transported to Georgetown and other areas around the country.
“The investment now offshore of the Demerara River can help a bit and the dredging of the river will help because we have to dredge the Demerara River at least up to the point of where we’re building the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project because we need to ship the LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and other liquids from there when we export them because we’ll become a net exporter in a couple of years of LPG and other products. So, clearly, we have to do much more work in the Demerara River but ultimately, we have to have a deep-water port in Guyana,” VP Jagdeo contended.
Initially, the Government was considering constructing a deep-water port facility in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), but has had to go back to the drawing board given the high sedimentation there and the logistical and financial hurdles of dredging the mouth of the Berbice River.
Previously, Jagdeo had floated the idea of modifying the port facility by building out a causeway to mitigate challenges with dredging the mouth of the Berbice River.
A causeway is a raised path, railway or road across wet ground, in this case, the ocean. This differs from a bridge since there is little or no opening underneath, instead, it consists of a crest with embankments on either side.
With such a facility, the Vice President pointed out that large vessels can come directly to Guyana, instead of having to dock in the islands and then containers be transshipped to Guyana.
“We can then become a hub for regional trade for goods coming to Guyana and then being transshipped from here back into the islands and to Suriname and some going into northern Brazil. That’s the concept we’re working on now but when you look at the cost of doing that, it’s significant,” he noted at Thursday’s press conference. (G-8)