NASSAU, BAHAMAS — MSC Cruises is making significant long-term investments in Grand Bahama, with projects totaling nearly $1 billion designed to expand cruise capacity, create jobs, and support local businesses, Rick Sasso, Chairman of MSC Cruises, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook.
Sasso emphasized that cruise tourism remains one of the most powerful engines of the Bahamian economy, with 10.5 million visitors last year generating $1 billion in total economic impact and supporting 14,000 jobs. “And those are thousands of small businesses that also are connected to all of that,” he said, noting that the sector touches hospitality, transportation, retail, excursions, food and beverage, cultural industries, financial services, legal, research, counseling, marketing, public relations, construction, engineering, agriculture, environmental stewardship, security, and maritime support, including pilot services.
“The proximity is what helps make that work,” Sasso said, “but it’s also the reciprocal exchanges that go on in the communities with our cruise guests and the investments that these ship owners make requires us to keep doing more and doing more and doing more. And we know that we can count on the Bahamas to always deliver on the promises we make to our own guests as they come and visit these great islands and particularly Grand Bahama.”
He highlighted MSC’s long-term commitment to the island. “At MSC, we are depending on our presence here in the Bahamas with a clear long-term position… it has to be something that we see the future together.” Sasso noted that the company is a family-owned private enterprise with 1,000 container ships and luxury cruise vessels worldwide, and that it feels welcomed and respected in the Bahamas.
Sasso also stressed that people are central to the company’s efforts. “To me and to us, it’s people, people, people, because it doesn’t work without that. It can’t just be about the economics or the investment. It has to be about how that works for everyone involved in this community.”
Among MSC’s flagship initiatives is the redevelopment of Ocean Cay, a former industrial wasteland transformed into a marine conservation and visitor destination. Over the last six years, MSC has invested heavily to create a footprint of environmental stewardship, including a Marine Conservation Center focused on coral restoration and sustainability efforts in collaboration with local scientists and students.
Looking ahead, Sasso said the Freeport Cruise Terminals project is a key element of MSC’s expansion in Grand Bahama, with the ability to berth six ships a day, create hundreds of construction jobs, and unlock opportunities for entrepreneurs, artisans, suppliers, restaurateurs, tour operators, and contractors. Combined with ongoing investments in Ocean Cay and the Grand Bahama Shipyard, these initiatives represent nearly $1 billion in private sector investment.
“Cruise tourism, when developed with intention, can help deliver exactly that, creating opportunities for small business owners, taxi drivers, tour operators, tradesmen and women, hospitality workers, and young people entering the workforce. It touches everyone,” Sasso said.
He closed by urging all stakeholders to embrace shared responsibility for the success of these projects. “We’re all CEOs when it comes to these types of enterprises. Communication, execution, and oversight — that’s what makes things happen. It took me 58 years to fall in love with the Bahamas, and I’m never gonna stop loving it.”
