Kingston top Caribbean box port

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Jan 2008

Containerization International 2006 has ranked Jamaica's Kingston Container Terminal (KCT) as the number one facility among the Caribbean's top 23 container terminals. The rankings were based on total container throughput in TEUs per year. Reports have pointed out that none of the region's top three container ports are managed by Caribbean-based ports or companies, but by global operators. One report said that this is''reflective of the infiltration of globalization.''A shipping superintendent Portworld spoke to, however praised the benefits of privatization and said that having major players would mean ''more funding, more calls, more connectivity and ultimately more efficiency.'' KCT is run by Maersk's APM Terminals BV. while the second biggest Caribbean container facility by volume, Freeport Container Port in the Bahamas, is being run by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH). Third-ranked Port of Spain in Trinidad is being managed by the UK's Portia Management Services Ltd.  Number six, Caucedo Container Port in the Dominican Republic, is run by DP World. A report from Drewry Shipping Consultants had calculated that only four companies handle some 30% of total worldwide container traffic. These four companies are PSA, APM Terminals, HPH and DP World. Calculated in reference to equity per TEU, given PSA's acquisition of 20% of Hutchison, PSA topped the league with 41.2 million TEUs (old figures, PSA handled 58.85 million TEUs in 2007) or 9.3% of the global total. In second place was APM Terminals with 32.4 million TEUs or 7.4%, followed by Hutchison with 30.8 million TEUs or 7%.DP World was in fourth place with a 5.9% global share.Statistics show the four biggest operators are pulling away from their smaller rivals, with facilities owned by fifth-placed Evergreen only handling 8.1 million TEUs, representing a global market share of 1.8%.According to the Drewry report, however, local terminal operators are often just as efficient as their global rivals.It said that however performance was measured – throughput per quay metre, TEU per ship-to-shore gantry or TEU per hectare - global operators were ''no better or worse than local operators.''''The research shows that it is frequently the case that a well-run local terminal operator can perform at the same level as a global operator located in the same region'' said Neil Davidson, director of research for ports at Drewry.