Archive for June, 2011
Former Cayman judge to head up new law office
(CNS): Corporate and commercial law specialist Smeets Law has opened an office in the Cayman Islands. According to a report in the industry magazine FinAlternatives, Kipling Douglas, a former Grand Court Judge of the Cayman Islands will be leading the firm’s new office. Janet Francis will be a partner in the firm’s investment funds, corporate and commercial group. “Cayman has been chosen as the Network’s Caribbean base because we have confidence in these Islands,” GCA Smeets Law Network founder Gerard Smeets said.
“Our confidence has been bolstered by continuing strong demand for client focused Cayman legal services from the alternative investment industry worldwide. Here we can provide and service a dependable product in a stable environment,” he added.
Smeets, which specializes in advising investment managers, family offices and service providers,is a member of the GCA Smeets Law Network of independent law firms established in key jurisdictions in the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe. Following the launches in Cayman and Uruguay, another member firm will shortly commence operations in Asia. The Asian firm will focus on providing advice on Cayman and Luxembourg structures.
Cruise port still in question
(CNS): Government officials are still tight lipped about the current situation surrounding plans for cruise berthing facilities in George Town, although it is understood that the premier will be heading to Miami later this week to meet with the Florida Cruise Association. Since McKeeva Bush wrote to GLF Construction in April cancelling its exclusivity deal with the Port Authority and the Cayman government, he has yet to reveal his new intentions for that development. The opposition leader noted the irony this week when he pointed out government’s focus in the Throne Speech on the proposed East End cargo dock, which no one wants, contrasted with a complete absence of comment regarding the cruise town dock, which everyone does.
Although, as was revealed by CNS that the government has been in discussion with the Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, headquartered in Bejing, it has still not signed any deal with the potential new partner.
The premier said in a televised address on 9 May that he would be revealing his new plans not just for the George Town cruise port but another two projects, believed to be a new pier at the Turtle Farm and the redevelopment of Owen Roberts airport, the following night at a UDP public meeting. However, the premier again remained quiet, stating that he would reveal the details before the end of the month.
However, as May drew to a close no statements were released from the premier’s office and officials on the Port Authority Board are now directing all enquiries regarding the cruise port to the premier.
With the budget expected to be delivered sometime next week, the premier may be planning on delivering details of the latest development projects during the next Legislative Assembly meeting, but no date has been set for when the local politicians will be coming to parliament again.
Speaking at a public meeting in East End on Monday evening, where residents of the district were discussing their fears about, and objections to, the proposed East End Sea Port project, opposition leader Alden McLaughlin said government was wasting time focusing on the wrong development.
“One of the great ironies about this is that we really do need a port; we’ve been needing it for a long time,” he said, as he pointed to the George Town cruise port and the failure of government to get berthing facilities that can accommodate the new class of cruise ships. “Instead of the government focusing on getting the necessary port working up and running in George Town, it continues to waste time and resources on a project that is completely unnecessary.”
Compared to many of the other projects that government has proposed, or chewed over, since it came to office more than two years ago, the cruise berth development in George Town is the one that has the least opposition and the widest cross section of support. There is no political opposition and although there are still environmental concerns, even those who have opposed the idea because of the potential risks to Seven Mile Beach have been less vocal than with many of the other project proposals.
Although the UDP has said it is fully committed to developing cruise berthing facilities, the project seems to be floundering as a result of the negotiating difficulties coming out of the public-private sector approach. Government had first turned to the Dart Group as its potential partner but those negotiations reportedly collapsed as a result of wrangling over the length of time the government was prepared to lease the facility to the developer in order for Dart to recoup its investment. However, this has never been officially confirmed and there have been indications that Dart had other concerns.
Although GLF said recently that it was fully prepared to start work by this summer and had the financing in place ready to be released once government signed a master agreement, the premier made a decision to pull the plug, it appears, as a result of wanting to explore other options with other developers.
Since government parted ways with GLF, it is understood that China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd had drawn up a potential MOU to set out the parameters for talks but the premier has reportedly not yet agreed to sign that proposed deal.
Teen killed in car smash
(CNS): Update with victim details – Police have now named the teenager who was killed after the car he was driving ran off the road in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police said the victim who was driving the car was 19-year-old Jamie Evans from Prospect. A woman was also admitted to hospital with non-life threatening injuries as a result of the smash. Police said they received a report of the single car crash on Esterley Tibbetts Highway at around 12:18am. The incident happened when a silver Honda Civic, driven by Evans was travelling north when he apparently lost control of the car and left the road.
The car flipped over and landed in the parking lot close to Foster’s supermarket at the Strand. Emergency services arrived on the scene and the driver was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town, where he was pronounced dead.
The female passenger was admitted to hospital where she is under observation for her injuries. The road was closed in order to allow traffic management to investigate the cause of the fatal collision, which officials said involved only one car.
Police said that enquiries into how the accident happened are continuing but the road has since been opened.
The teenager is the fourth person to be killed on the roads in the Cayman Islands this year.
(Photos by Dennie Warren Jr)
Busy season forecast
(CNS): Premier's message attached – There was a small area of low pressure about 200 miles off the coast of Florida moving west-southwestward at around 20 mph when the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season opened this morning. The hurricane centre in Miami was giving the system a 30% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next couple of days. Predictors are calling for a stormy season this year because of warm seas with most long term forecasters saying there will be around 12 to 18 named storms with winds of 39mph more. Six to ten of those could become hurricanes with winds of over 74mph and experts says three to six of those could be major hurricanes reaching category 3, 4 or 5 with winds topping 111 mp.
Meanwhile, local weather forecasters were calling for cloudy spells Wednesday with isolated showers over Cayman for the rest of the day as a result of an upper level trough over the northwest Caribbean but aside from a few potential thunderstorms, residents have nothing to worry about yet. However, although last season most of the storms were steered away from the Caribbean this year experts say more systems will likely be forming in the region.
“In addition to multiple climate factors, seasonal climate models also indicate an above-normal season is likely, and even suggest we could see activity comparable to some of the active seasons since 1995,” said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre said last week.
The first named storm for 2011, when it comes will be Arlene and local experts were warning everyone to ensure their safety and emergency preparations were complete so when they are ready when the first storm watch is issued.
While long term forecasting remains an inexact science being located in the hurricane belt the Cayman Islands is always at risk throughout the season and more so when forecaster are calling for above normal storm numbers.
This season the NHC in Miami plans to stretch its forecasting abilities as it experiments with six- and seven-day track forecasts which if they work will eventually offer people even greater preparation times. Right now the experiments will remain out of the public view until the experts are sure that the information will be helpful but the centre said it was part of its long term goal to provide better
Although the public might be eager for six- and seven-day forecasts, the errors are expected to be too large for them to be useful NHC officials have said.
For more information on hurricane preparedness go to www.caymanprepared.ky
See message from premier on hurricane preparedness below