PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in June was cleared by the National Contracts Commission (NCC) to enter the second phase of the privatisation of the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT).

The NCC endorsed a US$3.3 million contract for the consultancy firm to provide services for the divestment following on from a May 2009 contract (valued at US$525,000).

The new contract tipped the value of capital projects related to the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT), which have fallen under the scrutiny of the NCC over the last 11 years to over US$180 million, most of which was related to the multiphased port expansion aimed at making Kingston the preferred regional trans-shipment hub.

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The KCT saw volumes of trans-shipment cargo passing through its port facility increase by 13.2 per cent for the first half of 2011 over year-earlier levels, when trans-shipment volumes reached a record high.

According to preliminary data from the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), 6.25 million tonnes of trans-shipment cargo was discharged and loaded at the KCT during the six months ended June 30, compared to 5.52 million tonnes during the comparative period in 2010.

Last year, trans-shipment volumes hit record highs when the KCT discharged and loaded 11.7 million metric tonnes of cargo at the port, which was 11.7 per cent higher than yearearlier levels and which surpassed peak levels in 2006 by 2.6 per cent.

The number of cargo vessels visiting Kingston Container Terminal increased year on year by 10.4 per cent in 2010, although a number of those ships were new generation mega vessels that each have a capacity of 10,062 TEU (20-foot equivalent units), which meant more volumes could be moved with fewer ships. For instance, the PAJ reported that 1,485 cargo vessels visited KCT in 2010 compared to 1,749 in 2006.

Trans-shipment cargo actually didn’t decline in 2009, when the world was going through the worst of the economic recession, but was actually up by 3.5 per cent over year-earlier levels.

In 2007 volumes declined from 2006 peaks by 2.7 per cent before dropping 8.8 per cent in 2008 from year-earlier levels. But that fall-off surrounded drop in volumes associated with shipping line Maersk’s decision to stop using Kingston as its regional trans-shipment hub in late 2007.

The PAJ subsequently pushed back the development of the Fort Augusta peninsula in 2009 to 2011, but blamed the recession as the cause. That plan was to include a largescale freeport facility on the peninsula to provide assembling and duty-free shopping comparable to that which exists in Panama, and would have complemented plans to develop Port Royal as a major cruise ship destination to be interfaced with the Fort Augusta freeport.