Jamaica's container ports among region's top-ranked
published:
Tuesday | January 8, 2008
Jamaica's Kingston Container Terminal (KCT) and Kingston Wharves Ltd. (KWL) were ranked No. 1 and 7, respectively, among the Caribbean's top 23 container terminals by Containerisation International 2006, based on the total volume of containers of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) passing through each port for the year.
Additionally, KWL is rated as the Best Multi-Purpose Port in the Caribbean by the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA), having won that award for the last two years at the CSA's annual conference.
The Port Authority of Jamaica's flagship regional trans-shipment terminal, the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT), was ranked at the top of the Caribbean container league table for 2006, based on the volume of containers passing through the port. The record 2,150,048 TEUs reported by KCT was the highest, not just among the Caribbean's top 23 ports, but also within the region, including Central and South American ports. This placed KCT as No. 43 among the top 500 container terminals worldwide.
The Port Authority of Jamaica contracted APM Terminals Jamaica Ltd., the world's second largest global terminal operators, to manage the terminal. APM Terminals accounts for just less than 10 per cent of the total container volume passing through all ports worldwide. The world's No. 1 terminal operator, Hutchinson Port Holdings (HPH), manages the Caribbean's No. 2 container port, Free Port, Bahamas. HPH accounts for less than 14 per cent of the global container port capacity.
Top three container ports
KWL was ranked No. 7 of the 23 container terminals in the Caribbean for the year 2006 by Containerisation International statistics. This was a move from 10th place in 2005.
The top three container ports in the Caribbean are managed by global container terminals and not by Caribbean ports. This is reflective of the infiltration of globalisation. The container terminals and their respective management companies are:
Kingston Container Terminal, managed by APM terminals;
Free Port Bahamas, managed by Hutchinson Port Holdings;
Port of Spain, Trinidad, managed by Portia Management Services Ltd., United Kingdom.
The No. 6 Caribbean Container Port, Caucedo, in the Dominican Republic, is managed by DP World.
Table 1 below shows the Caribbean's Top 23 Container Ports 2006 throughput.
CARIBBEAN TOP CONTAINER PORTS BY THROUGHPUT - 2006
