The Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment has rejected a suggestion the Regiment handle visits by Royal Navy ships.

And the president of John S. Darrell & Co. Ltd. -- the agent who is handling RN visits since HMS Malabar was closed earlier this year -- said the cost of a visit is about the same, with or without the Base.

Capt. Sir David Tibbits, a retired Naval officer, told The Royal Gazette recently that he did not believe the closure of Malabar was saving the Navy any money, despite the fact the West End Base was closed as a cost-cutting measure.

Bermuda recently had five Royal Navy ship visits in the space of a month. They were HMS Montrose , HMS Southampton , HMS Brave , and HMS Torbay , which visited twice.

Although the Navy estimated it was saving more than $1 million a year by closing Malabar, the ships' visits would be costing more than that, because the ships could no longer be served in the most economical and efficient way.

Bermuda should assign an organisation -- probably the Bermuda Regiment -- to assist the Navy ships which continue to visit the Island, Sir David said.

But Lt. Col David Burch, the Regiment's Commanding Officer, said he meant no disrespect to Sir David, but felt the former vice-chairman of the Ports Authority was "way off base''.

"I don't think the Regiment can play a role,'' said Lt. Col Burch, the Regiment's commanding officer. "We have only 26 full-time people here.'' Lt. Col. Burch said he was aware of Sir David's "campaign'' before Malabar closed, and "I wrote to him pointing out the reasons it's not something the Regiment would be interested in taking on at this stage of the game.'' The Regiment did provide some land-based logistical support, like transportation, but could do no more than that, he said.

The British Government had made a decision to close Malabar with full knowledge that Royal Navy ships would continue to visit Bermuda, he said.

Arrangements had been made with John S. Darrell to act as agents for the ships.

"It's really for (the Navy) to decide whether those arrangements are unsatisfactory or too expensive, or whatever. I suspect they're just going through that exercise now.'' Mr. Donald MacPherson, president and general manager of John S. Darrell, said there is not much difference in the cost of a ship's visit -- with or without Malabar.

While the Navy might have saved on "minor things'' like line handlers when it had Malabar, services like tugs and pilots were fixed costs the Navy would pay in any case, Mr. MacPherson said.

And with or without Malabar, Royal Navy ships were exempt from port dues and wharfage, he said.

Mr. MacPherson said the recent flurry of Royal Navy visits was "a very rare occurrence''. And while he did not know how many visits to expect in a year, he said it would be far fewer than the one a week Sir David projected.

Mr. MacPherson said the Navy had turned the operations side of RN visits over to John S. Darrell. The social side -- like sending out invitations for cocktail parties -- had been turned over to Mr. Russell Southern, a Bermudian RN veteran who had volunteered to act as a contact.

JSD also acted as agents for the US Navy and the German Navy, Mr. MacPherson said. And captains of the RN ships that visited recently had already written letters to the firm complimenting it on the way their visits were handled.