Fri | Sep 19, 2025

PAJ chairman announces US$50M investment in Port of Kingston expansion

Published:Tuesday | July 29, 2025 | 10:17 PM
From left: Professor Gordon Shirley, President and CEO of the Port Authority of Jamaica; Lyttleton ‘Tanny’ Shirley, Director of the Port Authority of Jamaica; Anthony Hylton, Member of Parliament for St Andrew Western; Dr Andrew Holness, Prime Minister
Rudolph Brown
From left: Professor Gordon Shirley, President and CEO of the Port Authority of Jamaica; Lyttleton ‘Tanny’ Shirley, Director of the Port Authority of Jamaica; Anthony Hylton, Member of Parliament for St Andrew Western; Dr Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica; Senator Aubyn Hill, Minister of Industry, Investment, & Commerce; and Alok Jain, Chairman of Port Authority of Jamaica at the ground breaking and official project launch of the Caymanas Special Economic Zone in Caymanas, St Catherine on Tuesday, July 29.

The Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) is set to invest US$50 million this year to further expand operations at the Port of Kingston, continuing its drive to transform Jamaica into a key player in global logistics.

Chairman of the PAJ, Alok Jain, made the announcement on Tuesday during the ground-breaking and launch ceremony of the Caymanas Special Economic Zone (SEZ), held on 700 acres of land adjacent to the Mandela Highway in St. Catherine.

“We will be investing in new equipment, and just two weeks ago, you may recall that we did the signing ceremony and ground-breaking for the Westland expansion, which is an US$80 million expansion,” Jain declared while addressing a gathering of government officials, stakeholders, and business leaders.

The PAJ’s announcement comes amid a broader push to modernise and strengthen Jamaica’s port infrastructure to attract global shipping interests.

The Caymanas SEZ is expected to play a key role in this strategy by offering warehousing and logistics services to complement Jamaica’s port facilities.

Jain also highlighted the significant progress made since the 30-year lease agreement was signed with Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFT), the entity managing the transshipment hub.

He noted that under the agreement, KFT has already invested over US$400 million in capital works, including dredging of the channel and installation of high-tech operating systems that meet international standards.

According to Jain, the investment is bearing fruit.

“Over that period, cargo volume has increased by 60 percent and the workforce has expanded by 50 percent, creating more than 500 high-quality jobs,” he told the audience.

- Ruddy Mathison

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