Freeport is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

and

free trade zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re- exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject t ...

on the island of

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly in area and approximately long west to east and at it ...

in the northwest part of

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

n financier with lumber interests in

, was granted of pineyard with substantial areas of

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

and scrubland by the Bahamian government with a mandate to economically develop the area. Freeport has grown to become the second most populous city in The Bahamas. The main airport serving the city is the

Grand Bahama International Airport Grand Bahama International Airport (GBIA) is an international airport in Freeport, The Bahamas. It was privately owned until the government of The Bahamas purchased it in April 29 2021 for one Bahamian dollar, a deal they were able to procur ...

, which receives domestic flights from various islands of The Bahamas as well as several international flights from the United States, Italy, and Canada. Freeport is also served by domestic Bahamian ferry services to other islands, and an international ferry connection to Miami. The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) operates the free trade zone, under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement signed in August 1955 whereby the Bahamian government agreed that businesses located in the Freeport area would pay no taxes before 1980, later extended to 2054. The area of the land grants within which the Hawksbill Creek Agreement applies has been increased to .

History

Freeport is a free trade zone on Grand Bahama Island, established in 1955 by the government of The Bahamas. The city of Freeport emerged from a land grant comprising of swamp and scrub to become a cosmopolitan centre. The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) operates the

free-trade zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...

, under special powers conferred by the government under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, which was extended until August 3, 2054. The agreement also increased the land grants to . The Hayward and St. George families own the GBPA, which they have used to fund estates in Great Britain such as Dunmaglass, the purchase of the football club

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. ...

, and to pay the multi-million dollar legal fees incurred due to disputes between the two families. Meanwhile, inheritance and contract disputes within the Hayward family has likewise incurred multi-million dollar fees. Bahamian politicians such as the FNM opposition leader Michael Pintard have described the legal dispute between the Haywards and St. Georges as damaging to Freeport's economy, while in March 2024 Prime Minister Philip Davis asserted that according to a

PriceWaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

audit, the GBPA owes the Bahamian government $357 million USD. As of August 2024, GBPA has not paid what the government of The Bahamas says is due. The city was severely impacted by

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone, which became the most intense on record to strike The Bahamas. It is tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin in term ...

, which stalled above Grand Bahama for 12 hours, caused storm surges between 12-18 feet above normal, killed eight people in Grand Bahama, and destroyed up to thirteen thousand homes.

Geography

Freeport is located just off the coast of

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach, Florida, ...

, and on the major EW–NS

shipping route A sea lane, sea road or shipping lane is a regularly used navigable route for large water vessels (ships) on wide waterways such as oceans and large lakes, and is preferably safe, direct and economic. During the Age of Sail, they were determined b ...

s. This has positioned it as an ideal centre for international business. Consequently, a growing number of international companies use Freeport as a business site.

National parks

Parks include the Rand Nature Centre, named after its founder James Rand; Petersons Cay, a small isle about 300 yards off the shore of Grand Bahama; and the Lucayan National Park founded by Peter Barratt, a former architect and town planner of Freeport. The Lucayan National Park is in extent and includes five ecological zones stretching from the south shore to the pineyard. There is an extensive underwater cave system beneath the park. One cave entrance is accessible by stairs at the national park, while other caves are accessible for certified scubas.

Climate

Freeport features a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

, similar to South Florida's. According to

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

(''Af''), more specifically with hot humid conditions that vary only a little throughout the year. Seldom do temperatures drop below . Average temperatures are around , with water temperature varying between . The winters are usually mild and dry (with the exception of some rainfall due to

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface Trough (meteorology), trough of Low-pressure area, low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropica ...

s), while the summers are usually hot and wet. Although a freeze has never been reported in The Bahamas, snow was reported to have mixed with rain in Freeport in January 1977 the same time that it snowed in the

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

area. The temperature was about at the time. The temperature of was tied, on 30 January 2022.

Economy

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

draws more than 1 million visitors per year, but has diminished since 2004, when major hurricanes Hurricane Frances and

Hurricane Jeanne Hurricane Jeanne was the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin since Mitch in 1998, and the deadliest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2004. It was the tenth named storm, the seventh hurricane, and the fifth major hurricane of the se ...

made landfall; in 2016,

Hurricane Matthew Hurricane Matthew was a powerful tropical cyclone which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Stan ...

hit the island. In early September 2019,

moved over the area and stalled for over a day, causing extensive devastation. Several cruise ships stop weekly at the island. Much of the tourist industry is centered on the seaside suburb of

Lucaya Lucaya is a suburb of Freeport, Bahamas, a city on the island of Grand Bahama, approximately 105 mi (160 km) east-northeast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Lucaya's primary industry is tourism. Major hotels and attractions in the resort ...

, owing its name to the pre-Columbian Lucayan inhabitants of the island evidence of whom has been found on the island. Freeport features at least two

Junkanoo Junkanoo (also Jonkonnu) is a festival that originated during the period of African chattel slavery in British American colonies. It is practiced most notably in The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize, and historically in North Carolina and Miami, w ...

festivals near New Year's. The city is often promoted as Freeport/Lucaya. Most hotels on the island are located in Lucaya along the southern shore facing the Northwest Providence Channel. The primary shopping venue for tourists is the Port Lucaya Marketplace in Lucaya. Recovery from the 2004 Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances took nearly a decade and led to closure of the older shopping venue International Bazaar and neighboring Bahamas Princess Resort and Casino.

Notable natives and residents

Janine Antoni Janine Antoni (born January 19, 1964) is a Bahamian–born American artist, who creates contemporary work in performance art, sculpture, and photography. Antoni's work focuses on process and the transitions between the making and finished product, ...

- conceptual artist *

Robert Antoni Robert Antoni (born 1958) is a West Indian literature, West Indian writer who was awarded the 1999 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction by ''The Paris Review'' for ''My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head''. He is a Guggenheim Fellow for 2010 f ...

- novelist, professor *

Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and h ...

- Canadian singer, frontman of the band Skid Row * JoBeth Coleby-Davis - Bahamian Progressive Liberal Party politician, attorney * Andre Deveaux - NHL player * Joanna Evans Olympian Swimmer * Tynia Gaither - sprint Olympian * Jeffery Gibson - 400mH world champ medalist & Olympian *

Shavez Hart Shavez Hart (6 September 1992 – 3 September 2022) was a Bahamian track and field sprinter from Coopers Town Abaco Islands, who mainly competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres. His 100 metres personal best of 10.10 seconds makes him the thir ...

- sprint Olympian *

Jack Hayward Sir Jack Arnold Hayward (14 June 1923 – 13 January 2015) was an English businessman, property developer, philanthropist, and president of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Biography Early life The only son of Charles Willi ...

- British businessman * Raymond Higgs - Olympian Jumper * Buddy Hield - NBA player * Jonquel Jones - WNBA player *

Johnny Kemp Jonathan "Johnny" Kemp (August 2, 1959 – April 16, 2015) was a Bahamian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a songwriter in late 1979 and is perhaps best known for his solo work, including his single " Just Got Pai ...

- Singer/Songwriter * Justin Hill - British writer *

Michael Mathieu Michael Walter Mathieu (born 24 June 1984) is a retired Bahamian sprinter hailing from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4 × 400 metres ...

- sprint Olympic medalist * Demetrius Pinder - sprint Olympic medalist *

Mate Pavić Mate Pavić (; born 4 July 1993) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He is the current world No. 1 in doubles by the ATP. Pavić is one of only six men to complete the Career Golden Slam in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam champio ...

- Croatian professional tennis player *

Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; , ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 Wimbledon Champi ...

- Canadian professional tennis player * Magnum Rolle - NBA Player * Alonzo Russell - sprint Olympian medalist *

Nivea Smith Nivea Smith (born 18 February 1990) is a sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres. She grew up in Freeport where she attended Mary Star of the Sea Primary School, and later graduated from Grand Bahama Catholic High Scho ...

- Sprint athlete * Teray Smith - Sprint Olympian * Michael Strachan - NFL player * Donald Thomas - high jump world champion and Olympian * Andrae Williams - sprint Olympic medalist * LaToy Williams - sprint athlete * Chavez Young - baseball player

Twin towns – sister cities

Freeport is twin towns and

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

with Lucaya *

Concord, North Carolina Concord ( ) is the most populous city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 105,240 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Concord is the second-most populous city in the Cha ...

, United States, since 2019 *

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, United States, since 1990

Gallery

File:TheInternationalBazaarEntrance.JPG, The International Bazaar File:PortLucayaMarketplaceEntrance.jpg, Port Lucaya Marketplace File:TheGardenOfTheGrovesEntrance.JPG, The Garden of the Groves File:TheGardenOfTheGrovesBridge.JPG, Bridge in the Garden of the Groves File:TainoBeachFreeportBahamas.JPG, Seagulls at Taino Beach File:TainoBeachFreeport.JPG, Taino Beach File:LucayanNationalParkBoardwalk.JPG, Boardwalk at Lucayan National Park File:LucayanNationalParkWater.JPG, Lucayan National Park File:GrandBahamaHighway.JPG, Grand Bahama Highway File:BananaBayKitesurf.JPG, Kitesurf at Banana Bay File:Freeport Harbor.agr.jpg, Freeport Harbor File:Freeport_Cruise_Ship_Terminal.jpg, Freeport Cruise Ship Terminal File:Freeport_Cruise_Terminal_Shops.jpg, Freeport Cruise Terminal Shops

References

External links

*
Freeport
( 2009-11-01)," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2008. * "Fast Facts," Grand Bahama Port Authority, http://www.gbpa.com/index.php/freeport, c.2008. {{Authority control Districts of the Bahamas Populated places in the Bahamas Grand Bahama Populated places established in 1955 1955 establishments in the British Empire