With its mix of paradise and enterprise, Jamaica, the third largest English-speaking country in this hemisphere, is the pearl of the Caribbean. The people, among the world's most hospitable, are mostly hard-working, adaptable, intelligent and resourceful.The infrastructure is fast becoming world-class, the political climate is stable and the country is now on a growth trajectory that is attracting new and continuous investment.
JAMAICA’S PORTS: LEADERS IN THE REGION
Jamaica, with its ideal location for home porting of cruise vessels, is already being used by Aida Cruises of Germany as a homeport. Aida will soon be joined by the UK based Ocean Village Cruises in the winter of 2007. And come 2008, leading cruise line P&O will base its largest and newest vessel, the Ventura, in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Montego Bay’s port is also expanding. There will be a new berth and terminal, whilst the existing Montego Bay Cruise Ship Terminal will in 2007 be exclusively used by cruise vessels, with enough space to harbour two ultra voyager class cruise liners at the same time.
Situated mid-way between North and South America, gifted with the world’s seventh largest natural harbour and a secure and world-class Port of Kingston, Jamaica is the superior transshipment location for goods and services destined for these two continents. And with the completion of their ongoing expansions which will increase capacity from its current 1.5 million to 5 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs), the Kingston Container Terminal will soon achieve World Mega-Transshipment Hub status.
Israel’s Zim Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) Limited is already profiting from Jamaica’s ideal and central location. They have partnered with Jamaica Fruit and Shipping Company Limited to create the Kingston Logistics Centre (KLC). This acts as the Caribbean’s logistics centre, linking North America and Europe to the Caribbean and Latin America. Started in May 2006, KLC is part of ZIM’s Ports and Logistics (ZPL), Global Logistics Network.
According to ZIM’s management team, Kingston is the leading container port in the region, and is therefore an excellent location for transshipment. And thanks to its free zone, Kingston is also a superior distribution centre for cargo from the Far East heading to consumer markets in the Caribbean and the Americas. Previously, this business would have gone to Panama. The team also boasts that KLC is already providing all the main logistics services ahead of schedule, including “just in time” inventory management through ZIM’s worldwide network.
A-1 AIR TRANSPORTATION
Jamaica’s two international airports play a significant role in economic development. In 2005 they collectively moved 4.7 million passengers. And since that year too, the major international U.S. carriers: Delta Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and US Airways have all significantly expanded their services to Jamaica from the other major U.S. gateway cities. Plus, new scheduled U.S. services include Spirit Airlines. And with Miami being less than 90 minutes away by commercial aircraft, there are several scheduled daily flights from there to Jamaica. Air Jamaica, British Airways and more recently Virgin Atlantic Airlines all have scheduled flights to London, while First Choice Airlines provides chartered service from London to Montego Bay.
The airports too are expanding. Montego Bay Jamaica (MBJ) Airports Limited, the private operator of the Sangster International Airport, is currently undertaking an approximately US$200 million expansion. This includes the construction of a new two-level 16,500 m2 Eastern Concourse, increased tarmac capacity to 22 aircraft, 17 boarding bridges, redevelopment of the existing Terminal and a new Private/Corporate Jet Centre.
At the same time, too, the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston is now in the third year of its US$139 million, 20-year capital development programme. The completion of the initial building to accommodate an expanded Ticketing Concourse and Departure Lounge, a two-level passenger pier, four passenger boarding bridges, and an upgraded car park and roadway.
HIGHWAY 2000
Ground transportation is also evolving. The now under way multi-year Highway 2000 project will accelerate and support economic growth, through the development of a road network linking the capital Kingston with Jamaica’s interior and south coast parishes.Whilst significantly cutting travel time to pleasure spots such as the famous Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, the James Bond Beach in St. Mary and all the resort towns and treasure spots of the island, Highway 2000, with its time-saving value, also promotes business efficiency.
ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
In today’s world of fast and easy communication, Jamaica is on the right side of the digital divide. Fibralink, a mainly undersea regional fibre backbone spanning 18 countries including Jamaica, and Trans Caribbean Cable Company, have been facilitating broadband connectivity from Jamaica to the world since March 2006. With investments of over US$80 million in fibre infrastructure, Fibralink is a regional submarine cable system, the Jamaican portion of which links Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Kingston to regional cable systems in Miami.
“The fact that Fibralink was built in only 14 months with crucial assistance from the government, is also proof that the state is pro business and investors are properly treated here,” says Fibralink CEO Richard Pardy. He had access to the people at the top. This allowed for quick problem solving, a critical factor in the project’s timely completion. The FibraLink cable system is currently transporting 2.5 gigabytes of Internet traffic to the North American backbone, or less than 1% of its design capacity of 320 gigabytes. Think of the business possibilities!
Of that, Mr. Pardy says; “Bandwidth will be accessibly abundant. Less than half its design capacity is enough to give every household in Jamaica access to broadband.”
Currently, only 4% of Jamaican homes subscribe to high-speed Internet services, compared with the U.S. broadband penetration of 30%, 35% in Canada, and 40% in the Bahamas. Cable provider Flow, sister company to Fibralink, is rapidly building a network to deliver 38 Mb/s of ultra high speed Internet services to households, as well as Digital Landline Service and Digital Cable TV with over 250 channels – all at once. Flow anticipates spending US$200 million to bring its high-speed network to 350,000 households in Jamaica by the end of 2008. “The Cable system we are installing will provide the infrastructure for Jamaica to firmly stand on the right side of the digital divide,” says Mr. Pardy.
The other major players in Jamaica’s telecommunications sector are also investing heavily in the delivery of high-speed Internet services throughout the country. Mobile companies Digicel and MiPhone are upgrading their networks to deliver wireless Internet services, whilst fixed line Cable and Wireless is expanding the footprint of their DSL services. All this investment in high-speed broadband delivery will undoubtedly place Jamaica’s telecommunications infrastructure amongst the best in the world. Highly technical businesses dependent upon the newest technology can now relocate to paradise and be even more enterprising.
