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Time running out on Kingston Container Terminal
Published: Monday | August 13, 2012 2 Comments
By Garth A. Rattray
In April 2006, the president of Panama made public a plan to expand the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Panama [COLOR=blue !important]Canal[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], doubling its capacity for accommodating very large cargo ships. The work began in 2007, is expected to transform Panama into a First-World country, and to alleviate poverty by about 30 per cent. It is scheduled for completion in late 2014. This very ambitious US$5.25-billion undertaking - financed by soft loans from multilateral agencies and internal revenue - encompasses alterations on both the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal, construction of new lock complexes, deepening of the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]navigation [COLOR=blue !important]channels[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], water-saving basins, excavation of new access channels and elevation of the maximum operating level of Gatun Lake, a huge artificial lake that forms a major part of the Panama Canal.
The upgrade is expected to increase the size of vessels from those with a draft limit of 39.5 feet and a maximum width of 106 feet to vessels with a draft limit of 50 feet and a maximum width of 160 feet. Currently, [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]container [COLOR=blue !important]vessels[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] with 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) pass through the canal, but after the upgrade, container vessels with 12,000 TEUs will be able to traverse it.
At present, 12,000 TEU [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]ships [COLOR=blue !important]sailing[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] from the Far East across the Pacific Ocean routinely offload on the West Coast of the United States of America where trucks and trains transport them throughout the country and to the East Coast, where some are then shipped to Europe and other places. This is very expensive and drives the cost of consumables up significantly. Shipping by sea remains the cheapest form of transporting goods and promises to remain competitive given the steady rise and fickleness of fuel prices.
In anticipating the economic windfall from the larger capacity post Panama [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Canal [COLOR=blue !important]Expansion[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] (post-Panamax) ships, some ports from Miami to along the US East Coast are preparing by dredging their harbours and raising bridges. Norfolk, Virginia, is already prepared for the larger ships. Other ports (in The Bahamas, Cartagena, Colombia, Punta Caucedo in the Dominican Republic, and even Panama) are also readying themselves for the new era of post-Panamax shipping.
Sadly, and shockingly, Jamaica remains unprepared, although we are perfectly poised to benefit significantly from the need for the post-Panamax ships to offload at an accommodating trans-shipment port as centrally located as ours. The Kingston Container Terminal already has vast experience operating a trans-shipment port. It already has 15 post-Panamax cranes out of a total of 19 cranes.
SERIAL PROCRASTINATORS
We have been dilly-dallying and procrastinating on the issue of deepening the harbour for many years. Now, we only have about two years to ready ourselves if we are to become established as a post-Panamax trans-shipment hub. We need to acquire about US$150 million to dredge the harbour to the required draft. Our harbour is now 14 metres deep, but it needs to be 17 metres (approximately 50 feet) deep. We also need to attract these massive shipping lines by further developing our capacity at Gordon Cay and Fort Augusta.
Our superb trans-shipment track record, excellent geographic location, political stability, efficient and experienced labour force, good industrial-relations climate, naturally deep harbour, existing equipment, facilities and expertise have given us an advantage, but we are about to lose it through inaction.
I hope this administration will see it fit to act with extreme urgency. We need for our various agencies to pull together now before we get left behind developmentally once again. The stakes are far too high for us to drag our bureaucratic feet on this vital matter and lose out on a golden opportunity for securing badly needed foreign-exchange income from an assured source.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.
Published: Monday | August 13, 2012 2 Comments
By Garth A. Rattray
In April 2006, the president of Panama made public a plan to expand the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Panama [COLOR=blue !important]Canal[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], doubling its capacity for accommodating very large cargo ships. The work began in 2007, is expected to transform Panama into a First-World country, and to alleviate poverty by about 30 per cent. It is scheduled for completion in late 2014. This very ambitious US$5.25-billion undertaking - financed by soft loans from multilateral agencies and internal revenue - encompasses alterations on both the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal, construction of new lock complexes, deepening of the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]navigation [COLOR=blue !important]channels[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], water-saving basins, excavation of new access channels and elevation of the maximum operating level of Gatun Lake, a huge artificial lake that forms a major part of the Panama Canal.
The upgrade is expected to increase the size of vessels from those with a draft limit of 39.5 feet and a maximum width of 106 feet to vessels with a draft limit of 50 feet and a maximum width of 160 feet. Currently, [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]container [COLOR=blue !important]vessels[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] with 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) pass through the canal, but after the upgrade, container vessels with 12,000 TEUs will be able to traverse it.
At present, 12,000 TEU [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]ships [COLOR=blue !important]sailing[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] from the Far East across the Pacific Ocean routinely offload on the West Coast of the United States of America where trucks and trains transport them throughout the country and to the East Coast, where some are then shipped to Europe and other places. This is very expensive and drives the cost of consumables up significantly. Shipping by sea remains the cheapest form of transporting goods and promises to remain competitive given the steady rise and fickleness of fuel prices.
In anticipating the economic windfall from the larger capacity post Panama [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Canal [COLOR=blue !important]Expansion[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] (post-Panamax) ships, some ports from Miami to along the US East Coast are preparing by dredging their harbours and raising bridges. Norfolk, Virginia, is already prepared for the larger ships. Other ports (in The Bahamas, Cartagena, Colombia, Punta Caucedo in the Dominican Republic, and even Panama) are also readying themselves for the new era of post-Panamax shipping.
Sadly, and shockingly, Jamaica remains unprepared, although we are perfectly poised to benefit significantly from the need for the post-Panamax ships to offload at an accommodating trans-shipment port as centrally located as ours. The Kingston Container Terminal already has vast experience operating a trans-shipment port. It already has 15 post-Panamax cranes out of a total of 19 cranes.
SERIAL PROCRASTINATORS
We have been dilly-dallying and procrastinating on the issue of deepening the harbour for many years. Now, we only have about two years to ready ourselves if we are to become established as a post-Panamax trans-shipment hub. We need to acquire about US$150 million to dredge the harbour to the required draft. Our harbour is now 14 metres deep, but it needs to be 17 metres (approximately 50 feet) deep. We also need to attract these massive shipping lines by further developing our capacity at Gordon Cay and Fort Augusta.
Our superb trans-shipment track record, excellent geographic location, political stability, efficient and experienced labour force, good industrial-relations climate, naturally deep harbour, existing equipment, facilities and expertise have given us an advantage, but we are about to lose it through inaction.
I hope this administration will see it fit to act with extreme urgency. We need for our various agencies to pull together now before we get left behind developmentally once again. The stakes are far too high for us to drag our bureaucratic feet on this vital matter and lose out on a golden opportunity for securing badly needed foreign-exchange income from an assured source.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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