Tourism

Security at One of the USVI's Busiest Cruise Ship Ports Inadequate as Potential Hires Reject Wage Level

The West Indian Company Limited (WICO) Dock in St. Thomas, historically the busiest port for cruise ship tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is currently facing a manpower issue in its security department as potential hires continue to shun the current wage offering from WICO, company officials made known during a board meeting Monday. WICO President and CEO Anthony Ottley said filling security guard positions continues to be a challenge because of the pay being offered, though an amount was never mentioned during the meeting. “This continues to be a challenge at the current compensation level,” Mr. Ottley said, adding that six potential candidates had recently been interviewed for security positions and while two of these individuals had failed the test, the other four refused to accept the current pay rates. The lack of manpower in the security department becomes more acute on cruise ship days when other WICO employees have to fill the gap, Mr. Ottley said. Though no major incid...