Multiple multi-million-dollar cruise port development projects have effectively positioned The Bahamas to achieve record levels of visitors well beyond 2024.While this year marked the celebration of several milestones for the nation’s busiest cruise port, 2025 promises even more, as additional port development projects are completed to further enhance the robust cruise-tourism product that is The Bahamas.

Ten years before Professor Andrew Spencer walked onto the campus of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), his Ph.D. thesis on tourism strategy, completed at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, earned formal recognition from the Institute for Travel and Tourism Education and Training Committee (ITT). The ITT named the Jamaican academic its 2011/2012 Ph.D. Student of the Year.

What were SSL’s main successes in 2024? 

• Terminal operating license – Stevedoring Services Limited (SSL) successfully secured a six-year extension to the Terminal Operators License with the local Municipality that owns the land. This will ensure SSL remains at the Hamilton Port until 2032. This extension also provides a level of comfort to the parent company (Polaris Holding Company Ltd) that any longer-term investments in equipment should yield the returns.