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Kingston container terminal

CMA CGM takes charge in Kingston

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Following an announcement in April, operations at Kingston Container Terminal, the one-time jewel in the crown of the Port Authority of Jamaica, are now to be managed by the CMA CGM Group

It was a long time coming. And when it did come, the outcome was, perhaps, a surprise to some.

This was the much-anticipated privatization of Kingston Container Terminal (KCT), one of the big Caribbean success stories of recent times and in many ways the dreamchild of Noel Hylton, the former chairman and chief executive of the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ).

The winner of the 30-year concession is the French company Terminal Link, part of the CMA CGM group. The agreement was signed on 7 April by Dr Omar Davies, Minister of Transport, Works & Housing; Farid Salem, president of Terminal Link and executive officer of CMA CGM; and Prof Gordon Shirley, president and chief executive of the PAJ.

The Jamaican Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, hailed the agreement as another example of the significant growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Jamaica.

Location

It was Jamaica’s ideal position that seems to have won over the new concessionaires. Mr Salem says his company chose Jamaica as a place to invest because of its strategic location in the Caribbean and its great potential for development. “We like Jamaica because there is governance in the country, there is security and it is an equitable environment for employees and employers,” he said. “This is a long-term strategy which we salute.”

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