Future of tenders in cruise tourism industry still in unchartered waters

When we checked today, cruise lines are still on schedule for Friday but the future of tender operations remains up in the air. Three lines called on port today:  Carnival Valor, Aida Luna and Seven Seas Navigato. Their passengers were ferried to the Fort Street Tourism Village by Eurocaribe. Despite having recently formed an association to do business directly with major cruise lines, tender operators have resumed business with EuroCaribe Shipping, but how long the new arrangement will last has not been ascertained.  The company, for a number of years, has been the agent for Carnival and exclusive contract holder for the tendering of passengers from the vessels.  It would then hire the services of independent tenders at a fixed rate based on the frequency of trips to and from the ships as well as the amount of visitors being transported.  From what we know, the newly formed association had presented two proposals to Carnival officials in Miami but those have been rejected.  Tender operators want rates that are higher than what Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean are willing to pay per visitor.  While cruise lines insist on a five dollar U.S. flat rate, tender operators aren’t willing to take less than seven U.S. dollars.  In other developments, News Five also learned that the four catamarans that are owned by Royal Caribbean and operated locally by Caribbean Shipping are not being used for tender operations involving Carnival Cruise Line. Two other catamarans, whose arrival unleashed the firestorm in the tendering operations remain at Big Creek in the south.