A GREEN MARINA

Panama’s way forward

A group of experienced seamen envision an environmentally friendly, full-service marina to transform Panama’s economy

FATIMA ASVAT

PANAMA. If the United States’ way forward, given its track record in innovations, is the green industry, then Panama’s comparative advantage would be based on tourism, and environmentally-friendly ways of promoting its extraordinary and unique natural attractions.

Panama is situated in the center of the sailing world, yet few of the 900 new boats over 30’ in length launched every day choose to visit Panama or base themselves here despite our excellent climate with no hurricane history, superb geographical position, seismic stability, a US dollar economy, political stability.. and the list goes on.

What could so heavily counterweight this ideal scenario?

For Mike Barker, a New Zealander currently living in Panama who played a major role in the creation of the marina at Gulf Harbour, Auckland, the answer is obvious: Panama lacks any real marine industry, and is burdened with “a reputation for poor service and a dreadful marine infrastructure.”

Barker said “an average visiting yacht owner at a well-developed marina spends on average $10,000 per month on themselves and their vessels,” yet Panama is missing out on a piece of that pie. Most of the thousands who visit Panama each year choose to move on and spend elsewhere and many more choose not to visit at all.

For Barker, the solution to this problem boils down to three words: Marine Scene Marina, Panama’s first complete, full-service, environmentally-friendly marine facility in Veracruz, that would allow sailors and yachtsmen to make a full stop in Panama, instead of just passing by and staying for a day or two.

“The western coast of the Pacific Ocean is the longest leg of any global voyage and the demand for such facility is very high right here and right now,” he said.

Barker, whose professional seagoing career started more than 38 years ago, wants to embark on this project with some of the most experienced seamen in Panama, among which are an oceanographer who provides all the seafloor data necessary to engage in marine construction projects, one of the most successful yacht charter business operators in Panama, the operator of a successful canal agency, a former pilot boat operator, and world-renowned marina development companies.

Although the country already has smaller-scale marinas and a fledging charter industry, Barker and company are thinking big, envisioning the adequate infrastructure to take these small-scale businesses and transform them into an enterprise that makes a significant impact on Panama’s economy.

On a latest trip to Flamenco Island in Amador, Barker found he could “buy a suit of armor but close to nothing for his yacht,” denoting the country’s urgent need to develop this sector.

What stands out the most from their proposal is their efforts to put forth an overall complete project, with the ultimate goal of developing this sector and exploiting benefits for the country as a whole.

Besides having 990 yacht slips from 10m to 25m, 35 super yacht slips from 30m to 14 a sail making loft, all marine electrical, engineering, mechanical and rigging trades on site, and a cruise liner docking facility, the project envisions educational facilities for workers, clean environmentally responsible management, victualling and bunkering facilities for charter operators, and more.

EDUCATION

Service training will be a vital facet of this new marina. Marine Scene already has firm orders for three 50’ and larger multihull vessels to be built in high technology composites, for which Barker and partners plan to bring to Panama the world leaders in these construction techniques to teach the marina’s boat building staff.

Additionally, Barker himself, a respected teacher of seamanship and sailing and one of the founding members of the Centre for Maritime Education at Birkenhead, Auckland, will pass on his own experience.

This will give the opportunity to repair or alter any vessel requiring such service right here in Panama, something not currently possible.

Similarly, trained employees will able to take these skills and apply them in other hospitality related enterprises if they choose.

According to Barker, they will be “teaching how to make money out of the preservation of nature.”

They also hope to bring sailmaking skills into Panama.

ENVIRONMENT

What’s more, from every angle you see it the marina pledges to set the standard in green businesses in Panama, as Barker says, to “demonstrate how profitable a truly environmentally responsible enterprise can be.”

The land in consideration has occasionally been used for informal and illegal rubbish disposal, and the adjacent sea has been fished out by poor local fish harvesting practice. The intended management policies, instead of harming, would in fact render the region cleaner.

Their secret weapon? The McMullen Process, the ultimate green technology that will treat all effluent and rubbish produced by the marina and by the surrounding communities, accepting up to four hundred tons of solid or liquid waste per day.

The McMullen Process cleanly converts this waste product into electricity and trapped carbon without incineration or other wasteful and unsafe activity, reversing the green house effect at a ratio of 3 to 1.

LACK OF SUPPORT

Despite the marine industry being wide open for exploitation in Panama, and the country’s perfect position to take advantage of this extraordinary growth, Barker and his partners have not yet been successful in selling the idea to the government.

During these harsh financial times, they have impressively been able to garner the financing to jumpstart the project ($90 million), the only thing holding them back is government approval.

They have talked to the Presidency’s office, Panama’s Maritime Authority, the Ministry of Economics and Finance, the Interoceanic Region Authority (ARI) — all the pertinent authorities, to no avail.

Barker and his partners face utter government inaction, in a “long, onerous, ridiculous process” to obtain a concession for the land, starting with an auction date. The auction date has been moved three times already, despite being a project with established financiers amid a sea of collapsing developments.

Barker said the marina could be Panama’s way forward, a way of thinking about the economy for the “long term” instead of with a “politician’s time frame” of 5 years.

He wants Panama to be known to tourists as more than just a “land of beautiful shopping malls,” and is willing to start talks with the government again when the new administration sets in. “I am not walking away. I love this country, I care for it,” he said.

As for a previous $2 billion idea pitched for the Veracruz area, where an island shaped like the Panamanian flag was to house marinas, cruise ports, public buildings, hotels, houses and more, Barker said it was dead, calling it a “cruel joke”.

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