Infrastructure, land use seen as hurdles to Jamaica becoming a logistics hub
Published:Sunday | November 10, 2024 | 12:07 AM
High shipping costs, outdated infrastructure and the proper use of the land around the Port of Kingston have been identified as some of the hurdles that need to be overcome if Jamaica is to take its place as a world-class logistics hub, port and shipping interests have said.
Private and public sector interests agreed that the land surrounding the port should be better utilised.
Citing a Market Analysis and Master Plan conducted by US consultancy firm Nathan Associates, Jeffrey Hall, chairman of Kingston Wharves Limited and deputy chairman and CEO of Pan Jamaica Group Limited, said optimal use of the port lands may result in some displacement.
“We are not going to be able to recreate ocean frontage. That’s not a problem that anybody here can do something about. But we can do something about how we use the land that’s available to us and how we zone it,” he said, during a panel discussion on Jamaica’s logistics future.
“The reality is that we’re going to have to, as a group of stakeholders, sit up and say to ourselves, the way we’re using the land that’s adjacent to the sea is going to have to be conceptualised and have very clear zones. And some people who are not using it to the ends that the Nathan Report sees for it, are going to have to go somewhere else, or at least organise themselves differently,” Hall said.
The KWL chairman indicated that while the proposed Caymanas Special Economic Zone was critical, more land space would be needed in the vicinity of the port.
“We’re going to need a big piece of land, as far as the port side of things are concerned, that’s adjacent to the terminal,” said Hall. “Because if you’re going to have a whole lot of containers coming in and out of Jamaica, they’ve got to be up against the terminal,” he said.
Meanwhile, Patricia Francis, chairman of the Trade Facilitation Task Force, indicated that the costs of imports and exports were too high and the turnaround on shipments too long, despite recent improvements seen since 2020.
“Data gathered prior to COVID, the global pandemic, shows that the cost to export from Jamaica is 39 per cent higher than the Latin America and Caribbean average, and approximately six times the OECD average,” said Francis. OECD refers to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of 38 high-income countries.
“The time to import, similarly, is 28 per cent higher than the LAC average and nine times the OECD average. With the recent reform of ASYCUDA World, the cost to export is six per cent lower than the LAC average, but still about five times that of the OECD average. Import times are 28 per cent higher than the LAC average and nine times the OECD average,” Francis noted.
ASYCUDA World is an international customs management system that was introduced to Jamaica in 2015 and has been continuously rolled out across the logistics space since then.
Francis said a team of consultants from Uruguay had been retained by the European Union to find a solution to the drainage problem in the general area of the Kingston port.
The discussions were part of the November 1 staging of the Shipping Association of Jamaica’s 85th anniversary distinguished lecture.