9th August 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
No Small Plan – Can a global logistics hub transform Jamaica ?
Jamaica, though having some bright moments, has been dogged by slow economic development for as long as I can remember. Jamaica’s potential for greatness still exists as the country is characterized as having big dreamers, an entrepreneurial spirit, having tremendous cultural influence and an abundance of natural resources. One of those big dreams is manifesting in the plans for the development of a logistics hub to take advantage of Jamaica’s geographic location and the expansion of the Panama Canal.
Jamaica lies close to North and South America and is on one of the most-traveled sea routes. The country will be using this to its advantage as it seeks to position itself to investors as a great place to do business. The Government is projecting that Jamaica could be joining Rotterdam, Dubai and Singapore as the fourth global logistics hub. A logistics hub is described as a large cluster of facilities where goods are organized and transported and includes the supporting businesses and organizations to enable trade. How’s that for a big dream!
Among the elements being explored is the Caymanas Economic Zone, spread over 200 acres, located beside a major highway. The zone is intended to include information communication technology (ICT), manufacturing, and agro-processing facilities, as well as, warehousing and office spaces. The area of Caymanas was chosen because of its close proximity to both sea and air ports. Other elements include improvement to existing infrastructure. Among those projects are the deepening of the Kingston Harbour, modernization of Kingston’s port and upgrading of the customs system to handle the increased traffic. Among the facilities to be constructed are a commodity port and a dry dock.
The logistics hub, I believe, has the power to transform Jamaica’s economic situation and truly make Jamaica a preferred destination for international businesses and a great place to invest. The country already has a robust telecommunications infrastructure, trained work force, close proximity to some of the strongest markets and established industries that support setting up and growing successful companies.
Already there is progress in making some of the projects happen. At a presentation recently we were told that groups of investor hopefuls, who were shortlisted for the development of the Caymanas Economic Zone project, were in the island presenting their plans and going through the Government’s due diligence process. One of the things that I am most heartened by is the response of international partners, like the World Bank, are now working to make Jamaica’s big dream happen. It seems they, like many Jamaicans, see the logistics hub as having the magic to transform Jamaica into an economic powerhouse.
Finally, I want to thank Dameon Brackett for allowing me to use his beautiful and powerful photographs in this post.
Port Maria, St Mary used to be a vibrant seaport under both Spain and England. Let me suggest that location as an alternative to the Goat Islands for the proposed developmet. It would be a boon for that area of the Jamaica which seems to have been largely forgotten.
Tiens tu as raison FRANK, je me rends compte que dans 90% de mes relations, c&;iauorétqst moi qui était plus romantique. (pas romantique gna-gna quand même et mou lol) Les femmes ont elles perdu la beauté d’être à deux et être pro-activent envers l’autre?
Please go here to get another side of the story:
http://petchary.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/lets-save-jamaicas-portland-bight-protected-area/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/no.onportgoatisland/
and then you may want to sign the petition: http://chn.ge/13tdPd5
I know that for any organisation to be prosperous there has to be a research department but in this country Jamaica, government has lack the ability to do forward thinking. It is no news that there was increase activity in the shipping industry to allow economy of scale, hence panama when ahead and launch a project to widen the canal. That project is so behind but forecasting and forward think made it possible and the economic potential of the project drove investors to invest, a research well do.With this I say “it was no strange news that such a development was taking place” now with Jamaica’s position and being a hub port, it was manifested that some level of investment and research should have been done ago creating a project for expansion here, this puts us in the position to play catch up and not be proactive.
Note the canal is behind schedule, this means we could have started and would be near completion, LACK OF RESEARCH,
I have read for my degree in the area of the shipping indusrty base on reserarch, completed now and sitting and waiting, but the spin off is when the hub is completed persons like myself will probably be gone to work else where, leaving the country to import wokers that they will enventually pay way more than local workers
so true Damion, Jamaica has no research and development board, committee or organization thus we always have to be playing catch up and in so doing, majority of the influx of cargo traffic which hill happen according to economist will pass us because we wont be able to handle post panamax ships and also many people do not know why the panama canal is being expanded, it is being expanded to facilitate larger oil tankers in the US to Asia market, the Logistics Hub however will benefit Jamaica in the long haul if it is properly managed and in accordance with the IMO and ILO
All good questions Stephen, my gut tells me that we are behind on execution but I know Jamaicans and you can ever count us out. Like Bolt and Shelly-Ann, we can sprint when we need to! There are some UK companies ready to repond to the needs and some that are already working in the industry. The Government is also working on a masterplan now which should also provide more opportunities and timing for activities.
I would also hope that this can transform Jamaica. Do you know if we are on target and if we will be able to meet the deadlines? Is there a great amount of interest from UK companies?