THE PORT Authority of Jamaica was recently presented with the Caribbean Employer's Confederation Trophy, which is given to "an organisation that has embraced the phenomenon of globalisation in 1999 and has demonstrated this in its strategic planning and implementation policy". The following is the citation that was presented to the PAJ at the Jamaica Employers' Federation recent awards ceremony:
Citation
"The Port Authority of Jamaica was established in 1972. Its main functions are the regulation of shipping in Jamaica's harbours, the provision of navigational support, and the setting of wharfage tariffs. The Authority operates public ports in Kingston, Port Antonio and Montego Bay, the Ocho Rios and Ken Wright Cruise Shipping ports and the Montego Bay and Kingston Free Zones.
Its principal commercial operation is the Container Transhipment Terminal in the Port of Kingston. Established in the 1970s, the terminal is now recognised as the leading Transhipment facility in Central America and the Caribbean. This is evidenced by the growth in container traffic at the Port, which has increased by over 1,300 per cent between 1975 and 1999.
The Transhipment Port operates in a fiercely competitive global marketplace. The competitive pressures are driven by customer demand for increased service and cost efficiency and the aggressive investment and expansion by competing facilities particularly those in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The organisation has responded to the challenges of globalisation in a number of ways:
The port facilities were modernised mainly through the use of cutting edge and state of the art technology. This resulted in the doubling of capacity and significant improvements in efficiency.
Recognising the importance of people in the change process the Authority entered into extensive collaboration with the Trade Unions and workers, which resulted in the undertaking of initiatives to change traditional work processes to enhance productivity. This included the introduction of a flexible workweek, which now allows the port to operate seamlessly for 365 days per year.
Extensive training and retraining of employees with particular emphasis on the use of technology.
The employee communications process was revamped to improve the flow of information to staff about the industry and the business in general.
As a consequence of these initiatives and developments the port today is more efficient, more productive and better poised to confront the challenges of globalisation in a sustainable manner. A massive expansion programme is currently under way and the major performance indicators are moving in the right direction.
The Caribbean Employers' Confederation and the Jamaica Employers' Federation salute the innovative efforts of the Port Authority of Jamaica and are pleased to present it with this award this year's CEC award for globalisation".
