Government divested Kingston Container Terminal has been named the 2016 North America Port Deal of the Year by infrastructure journal and project finance magazine, IJGlobal.

The annual IJGlobal award ceremony, which celebrates outstanding transactions and institutions from the world of infrastructure finance, took place in New York on March 15, 2017.

KCT was among nine awardees of the 2016 Americas award. A total of 116 awardees representing the Americas, Europe and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions were chosen by the publication’s editorial team.

Americas Editor, Sakshi Sarma told the Jamaica Observer that the port was found worthy of the award since it is one of the largest of the Caribbean ports and a key one for Jamaica.

KCT was sold by the Government of Jamaica to Kingston Freeport Terminal Ltd (KFTL) last June for US$452 million, with US$265 million in debt financing and the remainder in equity. The transaction includes the expansion, financing, operation, and maintenance of one of the Caribbean’s leading container trans-shipment ports which has been operational since 1975.

The agreement will also include dredging, optimisation and expansion of KCT in two phases, which will include dredging of the ship channel, turning basin and some berths to accommodate post-Panama vessels. Phase one also contemplates significant civil works to retrofit and deepen some areas of the berths.

Financing for the operation comprises a US$94 million development bank loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group; a US$111 million term loan from Cordiant, FMO, CIBC First Caribbean and Corporacion Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura (CIFI); co-loans from Proparco and DEG for US$30 million each; and US$187 million in sponsor equity.

The equity was provided by CMA GGM 60 per cent and China Merchants Holdings International 40 per cent. Mayer Brown acted as legal adviser to the Port Authority, an agency of the Ministry of Transport and Works, on the deal which resulted in an executed 30-year concession agreement between the Port Authority and KFTLs.

Expectations are that the port expansion will allow Jamaica to accommodate larger ships now passing through the expanded Panama Canal, and will put the country on equal or better footing with the likes of Panama and Cartagena.

In February, KFTL announced that since taking over the reins of KCT from Government, the number of container units it handles has increased by some 200,000 per year, with plans to move the figure by another 300,000 by the end of the year.