On Friday, the West Indian Company held a board meeting to share updates on the territory’s cruising industry and its projections for the 2025 season.
According to Anthony Ottley, chief executive officer, the WICO port is projected to have 288 ship calls in 2025, bringing over one million passengers to St. Thomas.
“These numbers slightly fluctuate depending on the increase or decrease in ship calls,” said Ottley. “Prior to COVID our numbers were between 1.1 to 1.2 million passengers.”
In 2024, WICO received 283 calls with 988,862 passengers. On average, the chief executive officer said each passenger spends between $145-160 once in the territory.
Board members inquired about how to increase cruise visits to the territory, to which Ottley replied that continued conversations with cruise line partners would allow the territory to see an increase in the cruising industry.
“In actuality, we have conversations in our next cruise conference where I’m meeting with cruise lines out of the UK to see if we can get more cruise lines to come to our shores that originate in Barbados or Martinique that may have customs and border challenges,” Ottley replied.
He added that there has been significant growth in the region of smaller boutique ships but also hinted that the decline in cruising to the territory can be related to the availability of other ports that have opened since closing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We‘re at the space two years later where the other destinations in the Caribbean are fully open, open for business, and that’s where you see a little bit more thinning,” said Ottley, referencing the slight decline of ships post-pandemic. But he noted that this is more in reference to the Norwegian cruise line.
Board member Pash Daswani questioned Ottley about the days of the week when cruise ships are more scarce.
“What did we do to fill the off days at WICO, for example, Thursday, Friday, Saturday is usually a slow day. And what are we doing to attract a 10-12 day ship,” asked Daswani.
Ottley replied that support of other port sites would facilitate an increase in cruising for the territory and could alleviate the scarcity. He highlighted that once Puerto Rico becomes “more robust in their home porting,” more visits will be pipelined.
“We have ships coming out of Puerto Rico that visit us on the next day,” said Ottley. “You have most of the cruise lines starting their seven-day cruise during the weekend. So once we could get that solidified in Puerto Rico, I think one of the challenges that they have is of course you have to get airfare into Puerto Rico.”
Ottley also mentioned that in the coming ten years, multiple ships will be built across the major cruise lines that can visit the territory. He noted, however, that limited berthing space could pose a challenge.
“We are having conversations with all the major lines so that we can figure out how we can accommodate as much ships as possible with the limited berthing that we do have,” Ottley said.
In other news, unconfirmed reports indicate that Ottley has stepped down from his position as chief executive officer. Despite multiple attempts by The Source to confirm the information, including outreach to Ottley, Board Chairman Jason Charles, and other staff members, no responses were provided. The potential resignation was not addressed during the meeting, and Charles declined to comment both before and after the session, though the board did issue a release Friday night saying that “personnel matters” were among the items addressed in executive session.
Further, ongoing construction projects are in the works for WICO, such as a water pipe replacement project, warehouse replacement project, and buoy and fender replacements. The board is also looking forward to the upcoming Charlotte Amalie Harbor dredging project.
Ananta Pancham contributed to this report.
