The real competitive advantage for Jamaica’s logistics future

JAMAICA’S STRATEGIC location and resilient infrastructure provide a natural edge in the Caribbean logistics landscape, positioning it as a strong contender for becoming a central transshipment hub, said renowned analyst Lars Jensen, speaking at the Shipping Association of Jamaica’s (SAJ) 85th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture on November 1.

Jamaica’s geographical position offers a unique advantage, with shorter feedering distances to the Caribbean region and beyond. This proximity not only increases accessibility but also builds resilience. This is particularly important in a global landscape where fewer, larger hubs may emerge in the coming decade, the Vespucci Maritime CEO said.

If there is an industry push for consolidation, Kingston has an advantage over other regional hubs such as Freeport in The Bahamas and Caucedoi in the Dominican Republic as Jamaica is less prone to hurricane impacts, Jensen said. “I’m mentioning this because we also need to realise, if we look ahead 10, 20, 30 years, we need to face that there are going to be more hurricanes, and when they do appear, some of them are going to be more forceful than what we’ve been used to.”

However, he cautioned: “Kingston has an advantageous position. That doesn’t mean by default that you will necessarily win that competition, but it puts you ahead at the starting game as it is right now. But this is going to be a very volatile and wild ride, and there are many moving parts, and the earlier you invest and try to build up and say ‘Fine, we want to win this’, the more likely you actually also are to emerge as one of these winners 10, 15 years down the line.”

On terminal development, he said there is a tendency towards expansion to facilitate larger container vessels and cranes but without similar focus on efficiency, but that that has not been the case in Jamaica. “It is equally important when you develop terminals to make them incredibly efficient in handling the smaller feeder vessels. Without an extremely solid grounding in local and regional feeder services, the port is not attractive to global services either. It’s symbiotic. Both are equally important and right now, Kingston, over the last few years, clearly has been on the right track in terms of increasing connectivity. But the more connectivity you have, the more attractive it becomes to deep-sea services, and you get this virtual cycle. So again, Kingston is at least in an advantageous position to build on this compared to some of the other hubs in this region.”

However, Jensen pointed out that to capitalise on these advantages, Jamaica must also focus on developing an adept workforce. While artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are important, they will not give any single company a sustained edge because they are available to everyone, he said, adding that the key differentiator will be the people who use them. “The way to look at digitalisation and AI is [that] it’s going to give us some phenomenal abilities to optimise and improve our operations to become much more knowledgeable when we make decisions.”

The SAJ’s Distinguished Lecture was co-funded by the European Union and supported by its Global Gateway Initiative.