By Mike Jarrett
Marine port decision-makers from across the Caribbean will gather in Ocho Rios, Jamaica for the 21st Annual General Meeting of the Port Management Association of the Caribbean, June 27–29.
The setting for this auspicious gathering will be the Jewel Dunn’s River Beach Resort, located in one of Jamaica’s most exquisite destinations. The tropical rainforest of Ocho Rios, verdant and lush from the spray of a hundred waterfalls, presents a beauty of nature rarely experienced anywhere on planet Earth.
The Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC), formerly the Port Management Association of the Eastern Caribbean, took on a new mission and expanded its scope and sphere of influence at its inaugural general meeting in Antigua on June 26, 1998. Since then, the PMAC has grown in stature, gaining the respect and support of governments, port authorities, terminal operators and port managers across all four language groups of the region. Today, 18 of the Caribbean’s commercial seaports are full members of the PMAC.
The Association has also established formal strategic relationships with a number of international and regional entities, including:
• Association of Caribbean States
• Centre d’Echanges Informatises Branche Antilles (CEI.BA)
• Caribbean Maritime University
• Caribbean Shipping Association
• American Association of Port Authorities
• Gulf Ports Association of the Americas
• Le Grand Port Maritime de Guadeloupe
• Inter-American Committee on Ports (OAS-CIP)
• Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency
• Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
Representatives of these organizations and entities are expected to join regional port managers in Ocho Rios where they will continue discussions for the building of a quick response disaster assistance and relief network for the Caribbean region, initiated at the inaugural PMAC-Portside Caribbean Port Management Workshop, which was held in Panama in January 2018.