GulfRay Americas pulls out of Jamaica

GulfRay Americas Manufacturing Limited, a multioccupancy developer who was said to be an integral part of Jamaica’s logistics hub initiative, has shuttered its Spanish Town-based operations and has taken its business out of the country.

GulfRay operated a petroleum and synthetic oils blending business at March Pen Road in Spanish Town, St Catherine, but was also the promoter of the eight-acre complex designated as a special economic zone, or SEZ, in addition to neighbouring vacant lands spanning another 34 acres.

Altogether, GulfRay was marketing 42 acres of lands in the parish primarily to international investors. But even before its business got to full capacity, the company relinquished its SEZ multioccupancy developer licence.

Checks with the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority showed that GulfRay ceased operating as an SEZ developer and operator in November 2022.

It is unclear when or why the company closed its March Pen Road business. A supermarket business now sits in its place.

“As far as I’m aware, GulfRay is no longer designated an SEZ operator, so because they are no longer under our purview, I really can’t speak to that entity. I’m sure they gave a reason why they gave up their licence, but we don’t disclose client information,” said Acting CEO of JSEZA, Kelli-Dawn Hamilton.

“As a regulator, we have access to very sensitive information, and we are bound to keep those sensitive information to ourselves,” she said. Efforts by the Financial Gleaner to get in contact with former managers of GulfRay were unsuccessful.

With a choice between Jamaica’s then nascent economic zone regime and the Mariel Economic Zone in Cuba, GulfRay said it opted for the former because of “Jamaica’s availability of an English-speaking skilled labour force, its central location with good transportation links and utilities, commercial services available within walking distance and the increasingly welcoming business environment”.

The Spanish Town complex under its management was also home to joint-venture partner CNAICO, or China National Automotive Industry International Corporation, a subsidiary of China National Machinery Industry Corporation.

CNAICO had established an assembly plant for motor vehicles, trucks, forklifts, and buses on location and kicked off operations with the assembling of entry-level vehicles under the brand Morris Garage, or MG.

GulfRay would manufacture the essentials for the automotive industry, including the production of brake fluid, radiator coolant, hydraulic fluid, refrigeration compressor oil, gear oils, automatic transmission fluid, multipurpose grease, and marine oils – targeted both at the local and international markets.

The company had arrangements with Atlantic Grease and Lubricant, a company based in Dubai, to distribute some of its products outside of Jamaica. But simultaneously, it worked with then designated free zone operator and administrator Masada Jamaica Limited to secure markets with companies in the United Arab Emirates, India, the Dominican Republic, Singapore, the United States, and China.

GulfRay and CNAICO had a US$350-million ($40 billion) plan at the time to develop both the premise it occupied and the neighbouring vacant lands to accommodate expressions of interest from international clients.

A site model of the development showed space earmarked for operators in the automotive, cannabis, and detergent-manufacturing business, along with a bulk chemical transportation company, plastic moulding, and polymeric insulator manufacturing company, a police station, and housing facility for employees.

Some 10,000 jobs were projected to be created for individuals in and around St Catherine.

karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com