At a special meeting of the board Friday on St. Thomas, the V.I. Port Authority voted to approve the selection of Jefferies LLC as the investment banker/underwriter in the Port Authority’s upcoming marine bond transaction. Jefferies will be compensated at a fee of $5.50 per $1,000 of bond.

Plans include a new U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility at the Urman V. Fredericks Marine Facility at Red Hook. VIPA will add a second parking level and refurbish the dock.

Helping to finance the bonds, effective April 1 the “ships dues” rate increased for ferry passengers traveling between the British Virgin Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands: for those anchoring in the harbor the rate will increase from $.85 to $2 each passenger, and for those using the wharf – inbound and outbound – the fee will now be $3, up from $1.85. (See related links below)

The Port Authority anticipates raising an additional $1 million a year to cover $12 million in capital improvements over the next few years.

The Port Authority governing board also approved the selection of AON Risk Solutions of Puerto Rico Inc. as the Insurance Broker for VIPA for a fee of $250,000 for a period of one year, with two one-year options to renew the contract.

Board members present were Chairman Robert O’Connor Jr., Robert Cintron, Yvonne Thraen, Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls and Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty. Attorney General Vincent Frazer, Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan and Manuel Gutierrez of St. Croix were absent.

The VIPA board will conduct its regularly scheduled monthly meeting 10 a.m. May 21 at 10 a.m. in the VIPA Administrative Building on St. Thomas in the conference room on the third floor.