Jamaica secures loans for KCT expansion

Jamaica’s House of Representatives unanimously approved the government’s guarantee of the loans in early September, following the port authority’s earlier request for such a guarantee. Fitz Jackson, State Minister for Finance and Planning, said that the loan would facilitate the commissioning of the cranes and noted that the port had an excellent repayment record.

The fifth-phase expansion will double KCT’s annual throughput capacity to 3.2m teu. The terminal is managed by Maersk’s sister company APM Terminals, and at the end of 2005 Maersk made a five-year agreement with the port authority to use it as a regional transhipment hub. The terminal’s throughput in 2005 reached a record 1.67m teu, an increase of 23% from 2004 and 350% up on volumes a decade earlier.