Posted on August 4, 2021
The island of St. Croix remains uniquely positioned to be an international center for shipping and ecommerce, and this week’s meetings with industry leaders have helped to focus the government’s economic development efforts, Sen. Kenneth L. Gittens said Friday.
“These are lucrative, sustainable industries, and it is up to us to take the crisis of the refinery shutdown and turn it into an opportunity for true economic diversification,” Gittens said. “However, we must improve the V.I.’s ports and overall infrastructure to realize our full potential. High volume manufacturers and transhippers require better facilities to do more business in the territory.”
The senator said that it was essential to “get up and get out” in order to be a part of the global marketplace.
“We can’t stay home and expect opportunities to drop into our laps,” he said. “Our discussions helped us to create new working relationships and to better understand the incredible potential of the Southshore Free-Trade Zone.”
Gittens organized the Florida meetings in his capacity as chairman of the 34th Legislature’s Committee on Economic Development and Agriculture. After engaging in discussions with a major online retailer earlier this year in regard to bringing some of its operations to St. Croix, Sen. Gittens moved to bring the V.I. Port Authority, the Economic Development Authority, the Office of the Governor and members of the Legislature together in order to establish a united strategy for bringing in new investment, improving the territory’s ports and developing St. Croix’s south shore. The Southshore Free-Trade Zone initiative, spearheaded by Sen. Novelle Francis, eliminates some barriers to trade and designates 3,000 acres on the south shore of St. Croix as an enterprise zone to facilitate the transshipment industry, light manufacturing and V.I. Blue Economy initiatives.
Officials visited the ports of Miami and Palm Beach and met with business executives to include Tropical Shipping’s leadership team. Gittens noted the significant investment that Tropical has made in the territory and thanked the company for hosting a tour of port operations and for introducing the delegation to the leadership of the Riviera Beach Redevelopment Authority, which is managing the restoration of a formerly blighted neighborhood through private/public partnerships. The delegation also met with both Riviera Beach’s mayor and city manager.
“Through our meetings we have expanded our vision in terms of what is possible for the territory and created new opportunities for collaboration – there is so much to build upon,” Gittens said. “Seeing the operations here has been very enlightening. The territory can serve as a transshipment hub for the rest of the Caribbean, but we must step up to the plate and aggressively sell ourselves as such.”
He noted that business leaders have a great deal of interest in St. Croix; however, major improvements, beginning with the ports, are required. The senator said he was working to identify local funding to enhance the port infrastructure to include the purchase of loading cranes.
“We have to realize that the ports are truly the gateway to our economy and invest in them, not only by improving the overall infrastructure but also by investing in our workforce. Tropical Shipping has expressed interest in partnering with the Virgin Islands government to include us in their internship program to better prepare our people for the transshipment jobs of today and the future. We must invest in our homegrown workforce rather than be willing to supplement with imported labor,” Gittens said.
As liaison to the White House, Gittens has been attending briefings on the infrastructure legislation now being considered by Congress.
“I am also going to push to see that some of the federal funding we anticipate through the pending $1 trillion infrastructure bill is invested in this area,” he said. “The most important thing is to be ready with a plan to ensure the timely expenditure of these funds. We can’t afford to be sitting on this money when our people need jobs and our ports, roads and public facilities remain in such bad shape.”
The meetings and site visits concluded on Friday evening with a tour and presentation by Lifeline Pharmaceutical in Doral.
