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The CMA CGM Group signs deal to operate KCT

Published:Monday | April 13, 2015 | 12:42 PM
Contributed
Seated (from left): Farid Salem, CMA CGM executive officer; Dr Omar Davies, minister of transport, works and housing and Portia Simpson-Miller, prime minister of Jamaica. Standing (from left): Senator Sandrea Falconer, minister without portfolio for information; Laurent Martens, vice president, Terminal Link; Audrey Sewell, permanent secretary, Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing; Richard Azan, minister of state, Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing; Dr Morais Guy, minister without portfolio, Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing.

The CMA CGM Group signs deal to operate KCT

On April 7, the CMA CGM Group, one of the world's top container shipping companies, inked a 30-year deal with the Port Authority of Jamaica to operate the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT).

The agreement was signed by Farid T. Salem, CMA CGM Group executive officer, at an event that was attended by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Jean-Pierre Bel, French president, Francois Hollande's special representative in Latin America and the Caribbean.

With CMA CGM, Kingston will become one of the major transhipment hub ports in the Caribbean.

With a total 2,400 metres of wharf, an 80 ha surface and 15.5 metres draught, KCT will increase its annual capacity up to 3.6 million TEU containers. It will be equipped with 14 gantry cranes and 60 port riders. The terminal extension will turn Kingston into one of the Caribbean's top five ports.

A strategic location regarding the Panama Canal widening

The Panama Canal, expected to be completed in 2016, will allow to deploy larger vessels with 12,600 TEUs, in the area.

Located at the entrance of the canal, at the cross roads of the North/South and East/West lines, the new terminal will offer a deeper draught where larger vessels will be accommodated. The additional equipment planned will allow to develop transhipment operations via secondary lines in the entire area.

The terminal, where CMA CGM market share accounts for about 35 to 40 per cent, will be open to all shipping lines benefiting from the same quality of services and treatment, without discrimination.

A key development for the CMA CGM Group port offer

With Kingston Container Terminal, the CMA CGM Group reinforces its presence in terminals. The CMA CGM Group has been operating 24 terminals worldwide and handles more than 14 million TEU each year, via its two dedicated entities. They reinforce the group's additional services to maritime transport offer.

This investment is part of the CMA CGM Group's global development plan in this area, including new vessels more adapted to markets, as well as the creation of logistics platforms and the volume-increase development in ports, for instance, in the French Antilles.

Salem said, "This is a key investment for the CMA CGM Group. With this terminal, the group anticipates the Panama Canal widening, expected to be completed in 2016, and the entire area development that it will create. The CMA CGM Group, therefore, reaffirms its ambition to offer additional services to our core

business, in order to improve our clients'

needs-satisfaction."