The island’s port congestion, infrastructure maintenance, and long-term development priorities are under renewed focus as the Minister with responsibility for Infrastructure, Port Services and Energy, Shawn Edward, outlined current challenges and future plans, including the possible relocation of cargo operations from Port Castries to Cul De Sac.
Addressing concerns about congestion at the capital’s port ahead of Tuesday’s sitting of Parliament, the minister acknowledged that capacity constraints are already affecting operations.
“It’s very obvious that we have a congestion issue in Port Castries at the moment,” he said, explaining that a decision was taken “to engage a local interest to help us with storage of the empty containers, so as to give SLASPR more operational space and to deliver more efficiently to users of the port.”
The temporary storage solution involves relocating empty containers away from the wharf.
“The only difference is that instead of storing the containers in Port Castries on the wharf, we store them in a location that we believe is close enough that would not seriously impede the operations of the port in terms of the vessels that would dock in Port Castries and to transact business,” Edward explained.
On the longer-term question of moving cargo operations out of the capital, the minister confirmed that this remains under active consideration. “Yes, this is something that the government has been considering for some time now,” he said, adding that the administration is “just about to embark on a feasibility study.”
According to the minister, Port Castries has exceeded its intended capacity.
“Everybody knows that Port Castries has outgrown the volume of business that it receives, whether you are talking cruise passengers and cargo operations,” he said. “We are definitely constrained by space and the government is considering an alternative for cargo vessels.”
He noted that discussions around transforming Cul De Sac into a cargo port have been ongoing for some time, signalling that the issue remains a strategic priority for government planners
