dependence on such imports underscores the relevance of having efficient ports to make sure supplies reach their destinations. The larger hotels and resorts use their corporate purchasing power to source nearly all of their ingredients from cost-effective sources abroad.

**During 2008–12, that is, the period following the economic crisis, aggregate container volumes increased by 8 percent (table 2.4).** The main ports driving this increase were Woodbridge Bay in Dominica and Vieux Fort in St. Lucia. Both Castries and Vieux Fort in St. Lucia received more than half of total OECS container traffic, with the transshipment Port of Vieux Fort alone handling 46,000 TEU per year, equivalent to 30 percent of the total OECS traffic. Both ports also seemed to recover from the economic crisis.<sup>9</sup> Dominica’s Woodbridge Bay port has also recovered: traffic increased by 58 percent between 2008 and 2012. Antigua, on the other hand, has seen a slump, mainly because of the economic impact of the collapse of Stanford’s businesses in a banking scandal in 2007. Stanford’s enterprises were the top employers in Antigua next to the airline LIAT and the Government of Antigua.

**Table 2.3 Container Traffic, 2008 and 2012**

|**Port**|**TE**|**U**|**Grow**|**th**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2008**|**2012**|**Change (%)**|**AAGR (%)**|
|St. John’s|20,052|13,485|-33|-9|
|Woodbridge Bay/Roseau|12,611|19,905|+58|+13|
|St. George’s|17,799|13,920|-22|-6|
|Basseterre|7,100|7,801|+10|+2|
|LongPoint|2,453|2,665|+9|+3|
|Castries|35,977|37,672|+5|+2|
|Vieux Fort|34,226|45,668|+33|+13|
|Campden Park/Kingstown|16,569|16,827|+2|0|
|**Total**|**146,787**|**157,943**|**+8**|**+3**|

_Source:_ Authors’ own elaboration on primary data. _Note:_ AAGR = average annual growth rate; TEU = twenty-foot equivalent unit.

**Many OECS container traffic patterns are linked to construction projects, mostly in the tourism**

**sector** . In St. Vincent, Campden Park’s volume has been relatively consistent. It has been reported that much of the equipment and materials for the construction of Argyle International Airport is routed through the port (figure 2.1). Throughput in the Port of Long Point (Nevis) dropped after hurricane Omar’s significant damage to the Four Seasons Hotel in 2008. The hotel reopened two years later, in 2010, and with that traffic went back to its usual levels.<sup>10</sup> Dominica, too, has seen new hotel construction; Secret Bay was ranked among the top new hotels in the Caribbean in 2012 by _Travel & Leisure Magazine._<sup>11</sup> Ports must modernize institutional practices and procedures to allow them to deal with unexpected or occasional events in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

> 9 Though not reflected in table 2.4, Vieux Fort’s traffic experienced a significant drop in 2013 due to the breakdown of the port’s only crane and its spreader.

> 10 In addition, anecdotally it has been reported that the financial difficulties of the Port of Basseterre were in part caused by the waiving of all port-handling fees for the significant amount of cargo related to the construction of the Marriott St. Kitts Resort. 11 http://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/economy-development/secret-bay-among-top-50-new-hotels-in-2012/.

13