When he addresses the Commonwealth Business Forum today, Etienne Mendez, chairman of Trinidad Dry Dock Company Ltd (TDDC), is sure to create a stir among the business elite gathered for the three-day forum.
One of fewer than 20 local business executives invited to participate in the discussions, Mendez, a civil engineer, will speak about a US$3 billion project that involves the establishment of two dry-dock facilities, one off Sea Lots in Port of Spain, the other in New Amsterdam, Guyana.
The sheer scope of the projects is astounding.
The New Amsterdam and Sullivan Island Projects will be home to two of the largest graving dock facilities in the world, with five graving docks each.
The ten docks will occupy a combined total area of 20 hectares.
An industrial park earmarked for Guyana will sit on just over 1,000 hectares of land.
Sullivan Island will be constructed on 60 hectares of reclaimed land not far from a mudflat at the estuary of the Caroni River.
TDDC’s promotional data says that ’fill for the creation of Sullivan Island will come from dredging for the turning basin. Equipment for dredging is already in Trinidad and Tobago.’
The dry docks are configured to accommodate up to 13 vessels simultaneously, ranging from small inter-island schooners to cruise liners and ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs) of up to 300,000DWT.
Asked if he and fellow founders and directors of TDDC were confident these two mega-projects will be viable, Mendez told the Business Express: ’We have spent close to six years bringing these projects to the stage they are today. If we didn’t think they would be business opportunities that would make them attractive to investors, give them good returns on their investments, we would have long abandoned them.’
He said talks with the Guyana government in 2007 were fruitful, leading to TDDC securing approval for the New Amsterdam Dry Dock Industrial Port Complex.
Similarly, the Trinidad and Tobago Government has given its blessings to the Sullivan Island Dry Dock Facility.
’At this stage we are going through a rigorous exercise to ensure our financing procedures meet the Securities Exchange Commission’s guidelines, especially new legislation that will enforce stringent conditions for all such businesses.’
The company remains a private limited liability company, but it is laying the foundation for broadening its shareholding, as well as attracting institutional financing.
Already, the IDB has expressed interest in providing or facilitating some of its capital requirements.
Mendez said that TDDC is working hard to ensure it meets all environment requirements demanded by the EMA in Trinidad, and its equivalent in Guyana.
’There are legal issues we need to thrash out to make sure we are on solid ground. After these hurdles are vaulted, there is the issue of raising the finance required to take the project to fruition. Both projects are designed to be done in stages. Our projections show a six-year timeline from start to completion, which is good. By then, the global economy will have recovered from the recession, the widening of the Panama Canal will have been completed, and shipping in the Caribbean and South America will more than double in the number of vessels traversing the targeted routes.’
During the construction phase, Sullivan Island will employ more than 3,000 people.
Upon completion, the combined facilities-dry dock, a marine industrial park and a residential and commercial sector-will provide more than 13,000 full time jobs.
TDDC says its multi-faceted project will serve as a ’stimulus to improved standard of living for Sea Lots, Beetham Gardens and the sprawling Laventille community’.
The first sector of the Trinidad project will comprise five Graving Docks catering to vessels up to 380m long; eight seaside cradles for smaller vessels and mega yachts; five service/guide jetties for dry boat services; and berthing facilities as well as a marina and residential access causeway
The second sector will cater for light manufacturing and warehousing infrastructure; a marine and industrial learning centre; convention facilities; bunkering and specialised environmental services; and industrial services, machine shops and similar, smaller operations.
The residential and commercial sector will host from multi-storied condominiums and a 900-room hotel to a mega-shopping mall, marine theme park, a 300-bed hospital and a desalination plant. The New Amsterdam project will have similar features except that it will include an eight-berth port with all ancillary services and a 1,000 hectare light-to-heavy-manufacturing industrial park.
TTDC directors believe the project will be not just viable, but very profitable, based on global shipping trends and a lack of dry docking facilities in the hemisphere.
Director David Fraser pointed out that both Trinidad and Guyana have major advantages to attract even naval vessels that require repairs or inspection for marine insurance purposes.
’Not only are we well positioned outside the hurricane zone, but we are also outside the terrorist and piracy zones, which is important to shipping companies and naval authorities,’ he explained. ’Bear in mind with the widening of the Panama Canal, the completion of which will dovetail with the start-up of our operations, many more large vessels will sail through the Caribbean and to and from South America. Brazil is poised to become a major economic giant, including a big oil exporter, which will mean much more shipping.’
TDDC argues: ’Technology has made it relatively simple to quickly build such (large) ships but it is very difficult to service them in the same way. Ships today must meet the requirements of Lloyds and DNV in order to maintain their classification and certification to operate The G20 accounts for 80 per cent of world economic output, therefore any policy developments affecting shipping will drive the standards of the industry and processes for their operation. These rules and codes of industry best practice have resulted in mandatory dry-docking, inspection and retrofitting of vessels to meet rigorous modern safety and other standards.’
The company posits: ’Approximately 31,000 voyages pass within 25 nautical miles of the two countries, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. This makes it extremely attractive for ship owners to repair their vessels at these facilities thereby saving collectively billions of dollars annually as an industry by coming to Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago shipyards, as opposed to Singapore and Japan, where supply is acute, costs are high and locations remote from their principal operating routes.’
The Sullivan Island project is expected to cost US$1.5 billion while the New Amsterdam facilities are projected at $1.2 billion.
Experts in heavy industry say this is the biggest private sector initiative in this part of the world-ever.
’Mendez’s presentation at the CHOGM Business Forum is likely to attract the attention of wealthy investors from Commonwealth countries like India, Britain, Canada and Singapore,’ one heavy industry analyst said.
TDCC directors are listed as Mendez (chairman), Francis Charles, Alfred McMillan, George Fraser, David Fraser, Prananand Rajendranath and David Bacchus.
