Interest building in US$8b logistics hub - Hylton

The Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce, working with the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, will be reaching out to businesses to brief them on the global logistics and trans-shipment hub project and opportunities for investment.

Industry Minister Anthony Hylton, who made the comment while addressing a luncheon meeting of the chamber, also said there were growing expectations for the hub and that international traders were waiting for Jamaica to deliver on the project.

Hylton has been to Europe, Asia and Panama to promote the hub project, whose various components Jamaica expects will cost a combined US$8 billion to US$10 billion to execute, he told the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce meeting in Kingston on December 18.

The country is positioning to take advantage of anticipated increased maritime activities expected to result from the expansion of the Panama Canal by 2015.

Hub projects include: dredging of the Kingston Harbour; expansion of the Port of Kingston; development of the Caymanas Economic Zone, a trans-shipment commodity port, and Vernamfield in Clarendon as an air-cargo and passenger facility; and establishment of a dry dock facility.

Development of the hub would make it the fourth such facility globally, along with those in Singapore; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Jamaica is touting, as a comparative advantage, its location in relative proximity to the Panama Canal and midway between North America and South America, as selling points for the logistics hub.

Critically needed

Hylton told the business leaders that feedback to Jamaica suggests that stakeholders deem the hub to be "critically needed" to ensure that trade "moves efficiently and effectively as it can" across the region.

They are "looking to us to step up and to deliver," he said.

"This project is of a global scale. The standards we are setting are along the lines of those in Singapore, Dubai, and Rotterdam. That is a tall order, but that's the scope of opportunity that we have. Therefore, the scale of that opportunity must be matched by our efforts. It requires significant up-scaling in almost every aspect of how we do business," Hylton said.

The planned consultations with local business are expected to complement similar efforts undertaken overseas.

Hylton said his overseas missions have yielded expressions of interest from a number of foreign investors wishing to participate in the project.

"We will be utilising the chamber's network throughout the country, beginning in January in Montego Bay. Thereafter, we will identify a list of chambers in the various parishes that we will be utilising to speak to this very critical issue for Jamaica's growth and development," Hylton said.