Only once before in the history of 35-year history of OM Ships International has it met with the type of controversy currently surrounding the in Bermuda.

On June 1, 2003, the sister ship was refused permission by the Maltese government to sell books in Malta?s waters when Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo said it did not have a licence.

Yesterday, Premier Alex Scott stood up to support the and chastised the Chamber of Commerce, which had said its presence here during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year would harm local booksellers.

?Experience has shown that local bookstores sell more books after the leaves the various ports it visits,? Premier Scott said. ?This is because the ship creates an interest in reading, and a desire by locals to find out more about the countries, cultures and subjects represented either by the young people or books that the ship leaves behind.?

However, ship director Gian Walser said yesterday he did not have any figures or statistics to support this claim only by verbal communication.

?We obviously don?t have statistics. We travel from place to place,? Mr. Walser said yesterday. ?We keep in contact with people. I can mention the Caribbean Literature Crusade (CLC). They made a clear statement that after our tour in the Caribbean, their sales went up.

?Obviously they don?t give us details and we do not ask. But I can share in my last six years, there is more reading, more use of books by young people and that is what we can say 100 percent. That is what we often see and the feedback we often get.?

Mr. Walser was saddened his ship was the cause of ?some challenges within Bermuda politics?. Often we see booksellers at the beginning being hesitant, asking, ?What is with this big ship coming in?? But often after we leave, or a couple of months later, they see we don?t do any harm.?

But there was more to than just selling books, he said, as the ship had already helped Angel Tree and Westgate?s Prison Fellowship deliver presents to the children of inmates this Christmas, he said.

Premier Scott warned the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce it was in danger of doing a serious injury to Bermuda?s good name and reputation.

He said the ship had never had the type of reception at Christmas that it had received in Bermuda from the Chamber. The Premier also said it would be very bad for the Island to be known internationally that one of the wealthiest countries in the world had turned away a ship with 200 young missionaries.

?The record shows that this ship averages a sale of one book per visitor to the ship,? Mr. Scott said in a release. ?A Christian book store operator in Bermuda who is not a member of the Chamber but stands to be affected the most by any sales by , reportedly, ?supports the visit 104 percent!?? he said.

?So, happily not all businessmen and Bermudians support the Chamber?s view,? he said. ?If we cannot support their mission at this time of year, then truly we have lost sight of the reason for the season which is much bigger and important than the sale of a few books.?