The Puerto Rico Tourism Company had welcome news at the start of the year, reporting that 35,000 cruise guests visited the port of San Juan between January 15 – 21. 

The Port Management Association of the Caribbean, Caribbean Maritime University and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) have pledged to work together. Formality was given to this decision on January 23, 2018 in Panama City, at the inaugural PMAC-Portside Caribbean Port Management Workshop, held at the Sheraton Grand Panama. Representatives from the three organizations endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which outlined the scope and depth of their relationship.

Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) in Colon, Panama, played host to about 70 Caribbean port managers and decision-makers at the first annual Caribbean Port Management Workshop. The Workshop, presented by the Port Management Association of the Caribbean in collaboration with Portside Caribbean and the Caribbean Maritime University, was held at the Sheraton Grand hotel in Panama City, January 22, 23 and 24, 2018.

With new technologies constantly changing modes and methods, the maritime industry will soon be seeing liquids for human consumption being transported in 40-foot containers as against stainless steel tanks. The change has come about because of Reeflex, a new system launched in Germany in February 2018. It was rolled out at Fruit Logistica, an annual international show for the fresh produce trade.

Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited has reported upgrading 600 metres of berth and announced plans to acquire two new ship-to-shore cranes by April. This will bring total ship-shore gantries to 16. KFTL, which dominates the real estate at Jamaica’s main port, handled approximately 1.47 million teu in calendar year 2017, about 80% of which was transshipment cargo.

Battered and bruised during the 2017 Hurricane season, Dominica welcomed its first cruise ship at the end of January. It was the first reported cruise call since hurricane Maria hit the island-state. MV Mein Schiff 3, owned by TUI Cruises arrived on January 28 with more than 2,000 passengers.

Without ports - the safe operation of navigable harbours and dependable infrastructure to receive, store and deliver cargo –

global trade could hardly exist. This simple reality is reason enough for port management personnel to frequently sit together, to exchange views; discuss matters that are of direct concern; tap into the wisdom gained from study and experience.

The US Virgin Islands Governor Kenneth E. Mapp has announced plans for upgrading infrastructure and creating additional berthing capacity to accommodate larger cruise vessels at Crown Bay and at the West Indian Company (WICO) docks.

Carnival Corporation has committed to a music programme in the US Virgin Islands that will see the cruise giant providing musical instruments to the territory’s Department of Education. In addition to having corporate

Following the horrors of the 2017 hurricane season, the United Kingdom came under criticism in the Caribbean for its slow response to the disasters that hit its British Overseas Territories (BOT). In the Caribbean region,

By the end of the coming year, 25 new cruise ships will be in service. Another 19 will come into service in 2020 and 20 more in 2021. In total: 64 new cruise ships in 36 months. The average size of each ship is 97,726

Maersk Line expects to spend more than 2 billion USD to meet the IMO sulphur limit. The line said it would introduce a new Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) surcharge on January 1, 2019 to recover costs related to

CMA CGM has indicated that the cost for its complying with the IMO global 0.5% sulphur limit will be approximately 160 USD/teu. It said the cost would be absorbed by an adjustment to customers’ fuel surcharges. The company plans to meet the IMO standard by supporting lower-sulphur fuel, using liquefied natural gas in future vessels and equipping some ships with scrubbers (technology that cleans heavier fuel). —

Ocean has bought a new harbour tug from the Sanmar group to service its contract obligations in the Port of Kingston. The Canadian firm previously deployed three of its harbour tugs to Kingston in June 2018 after

Construction of the $28.5 million USD near-port Kingston Logistics Park, being developed by the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for the Port Authority of Jamaica, is well underway, for completion in two

The USA carried out its threat to heap additional tariffs on Chinese imports amidst growing concern from major USA corporations, resulting in an additional 200 billion USD worth of imports from China, in two initial

Reports are that Disney Cruise Lines has moved to expand its Miami presence and increase its share of the cruise market. Three new ships were added to the Disney fleet, totaling seven overall. The company is now

Ten government departments in China have joined forces to attract 14 million foreign cruise passengers by 2035. A part of the plan is to implement a policy which allows foreign tourists to stay in China for up to 15 days,

Carnival Cruise Lines has reported a significant increase in revenues and profits for the quarter ending August 31. Yet, the world’s largest cruise ship operators experienced a decline in the value of its stocks. Carnival’s share value declined by more than 4.8% despite reported revenues of 5.8 billion USD (up from 5.5 billion for the corresponding period last year) and profits of 1.7 billion USD for the corresponding period under review, up

The Disney cruise ship m/v Fantasy returned to Tortola in late August for its first visit since the devastating 2017 hurricane season. The sound of steel pans floated across on a welcoming breeze as passengers disembarked to shop. 54 stores offering an extensive range of shopping options were open at Tortola Pier Park. With 75% of the stores at Tortola Pier Park open and back in business, plans to be operational by the end of the year are expected to be successful. —

When the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC) convened its 21st Annual General Meeting in Jamaica’s beautiful north coast setting, it was the largest attendance ever recorded at any of the previous 20. Registration of delegates and participants for the first time topped 100.

The Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC) presented its top award for marine port performance, the Novaport Cup, to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Port Authority.