A joint venture made up of French company VINCI Construction subsidiaries VINCI Construction Grands Projets and EMCC and the Belgian dredging company Jan de Nul has won the US$147 million (about €130 million) contract to extend the port of Kingston, Jamaica.

VINCI designs and builds major civil engineering structures and is self-described as a global player in concessions and construction, employing more than 185,000 people in some 100 countries.

Shipping group CMA CGM, which was handed the concession for the port of Kingston on 1 July 2016, selected the joint venture to carry out the project, a release from Vinci said last Wednesday.

The concession, signed between CMA CGM and the Port Authority of Jamaica, lasts for 30 years.

The harbour expansion projects by Vinci and Jan de Nul is expected to be completed in just over two years. The contract is expected to result in infrastructure which will see expanded trade in the region.

The port of Kingston, located near the Panama Canal at the crossroads between the North/South and East/West sea lanes, is targeted to become one of the three main container terminals in the Caribbean.

With a total 2,400 metres of wharf, an 80 ha surface and 15.5 metres draught, Kingston Container terminal will increase its annual capacity up to 3.6 million TEU containers.

CMA CGM, founded and led by Jacques R Saadé is rated as the world’s third largest and France’s top container shipping company. The company, in its own earlier release, said the Jamaican port will be equipped with 14 gantry cranes and 60 traddle-carriers.

Vinci, in Wednesday’s release noted that the contract covers the refurbishment, reinforcement and upgrade to seismic standards of 1,200 metres of quays.

The joint venture will also carry out dredging work in the access channel.

The projects will be completed in 25 months. The operation will increase the alongside depth of the quays to enable them to handle container ships of larger capacity.

Vinci said the contract marks further cooperation with CMA CGM. In 2008, it noted, it handed over the high-rise building designed by architect Zaha Hadid in Marseille that now houses the head office of CMA CGM.

The French construction company also noted that it has Jamaican experience in projects completed in the island.

“CMA CGM will have the benefit of VINCI’s experience in Jamaica, where the VINCI Group has operated for nearly three decades and where VINCI Construction Grands Projets notably built several sewer and water treatment structures over the past 15 years,” it was noted.

Its website indicates that these included projects done for the National Water Commission.