June 14, 2002 – Gordon Finch, executive director of the V. I. Port Authority, took an exceedingly dim view Friday of an idea expressed earlier in the week by Edward Thomas, West Indian Co. president, about how VIPA should spend its money.
After noting at a Senate budget hearing Wednesday that WICO gets a "wharfage fee" of $3.50 per passenger who alights on the WICO dock, while VIPA gets $4 per passenger, whether the person disembarks at WICO or at the VIPA-managed Crown Bay dock, Thomas suggested VIPA rebate a share of its revenues to Carnival Cruise Lines in return for the company resuming calls to St. Croix.
The idea left Finch aghast. In a release issued Friday, he said he was "flabbergasted" when he learned of Thomas' proposal.
"The Port Authority has waived all marine fees for ships entering St. Croix since 1999," Finch said, "and the cruise ships still do not want to go to St. Croix. Now, Mr. Thomas is asking the Port Authority to give up ship dues, a major source of revenue for us … There is only so much we can do. We still have an agency to run."
Finch said Thomas' proposal "would cost the authority about $4 million in revenue. Eighty-three percent of all revenue dollars generated by the Port Authority is on St. Thomas, through aviation and marine fees."
Finch did have a suggestion for Thomas. "If Mr. Thomas sincerely believes that reducing the cruise ship dues on St. Thomas would entice cruise lines to return to St. Croix, then perhaps he should consider reducing WICO's fees."
Finch said WICO uses its $3.50-per-passenger wharfage fee to maintain one facility. VIPA maintains five port facilities on St. Thomas and St. John and three on St. Croix. Based on its wharfage fees, Finch said, "and the fees it obtains from managing the Havensight mall, WICO generates operating profits in excess of $1 million, which it turns over the Public Finance Authority annually."
Moreover, Finch continued, "since WICO's books are closed to the public, no one can really know exactly how much WICO can contribute toward boosting the St. Croix economy."
In April, Carnival Cruise Lines announced it was canceling calls to St. Croix, and Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line followed suit in what is estimated to be a $50 million loss annually to the island's economy.
Finch explained the authority's current finances. "So far, the Port Authority has lost about $1.8 million in revenues for fiscal year 2002," he said. "Last year this time, we had a profit of $2.4 million. If you add these losses to the estimated $700,000 that the Port Authority is losing annually due to the waiver of cruise ship fees on St. Croix, then you will understand my concern. The Port Authority is in a precarious position."
In addition to waiving the cruise ship fees on St. Croix, Finch noted, VIPA has built a $60 million airport on the island, and is currently extending the airport's runway. The agency has also upgraded the cruise ship dock on St. Croix, he said: "We have done our part."
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