Resilience and innovation – key drivers for growth

As we continue to chart a course for growth in 2018, we are ever mindful of the many challenges on the horizon. For many of us in the region, several of the challenges of the previous year continue to linger into the present and impose rigid constraints on the pursuit of prosperity.

Of the many issues that adversely affect the profitability of the shipping industry, I would like to draw your attention to a recurring threat that has been intensifying in recent years – hurricanes. This force of nature, with which we are all too familiar in this part of the world, has been wreaking considerable havoc with great frequency. The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season brought with it widespread destruction and tragic loss of life. It featured 17 named storms that yielded 10 consecutive hurricanes. Estimates put it as the costliest hurricane season on record with approximately US$ 280 billion in total economic losses.

While the hurricanes violently and rapidly swept through the region, the damage that still remains is indicative of the slow road to recovery that many regional economies are currently facing. As we have done in previous years, the CSA has come to the aid of the affected islands by donating US$ 100,000 to their disaster relief efforts. It is our hope that this contribution will make a difference in the lives of many families.

Resilience planning

It is also our hope that, going forward, the region will give greater consideration to strengthening our collective resilience in the face of extreme weather events. The onus is on us to ensure the development of resilient communities that are adequately positioned to both respond and adapt to the changing climate and the ensuing external shocks. Disaster resilience planning should be an ongoing process that focuses on surviving and thriving in times of emergency.

I would like to take this opportunity to commend the current capacity-building work taking place on the ground, which seeks to establish a platform to build resilience. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and its partners are reviewing early warning systems from the 2017 hurricane season in order to strengthen resilience against future disasters. The CSA fully endorsed the recent Caribbean Port Management Workshop, spearheaded by the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC). This forum tackled the development of a quick-response Regional Disaster Assistance and Relief Network and outlined the crucial link with the Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance (CLRAH) in Panama.

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