KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ) is currently building out the island’s first Maritime Cluster.

This is in keeping with the entity’s mandate to develop the country’s maritime industry.

Speaking during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, MAJ Director General, Bertrand Smith, explained that the cluster is a network of services that can be provided to ships to make local ports more attractive.

“It is what we call the shipping hub concept, where we want to expand the cluster of services that can be provided to ships that call at our ports and ships that operate in Jamaican waters” he pointed out.

Smith said these services include dry docking, which facilitates ship maintenance and repair; bunkering, which is the refuelling of ships; crewing, which is the provision of a replacement hub for ship crews as well as provisioning, which is supplying food and water to sea-going vessels.

“So there is a whole cluster of services that we can provide to ships to make our port more attractive and to ensure that when ships come to Jamaica, if they need to be repaired, there is a place to be repaired, if they need fuel, they can be bunkered, if they need water or other services, we can provide those services here” the director general stated.

Smith advised that the MAJ is currently growing the cluster, pointing out that “right now, we have one floating dry dock, we have about four bunker operators”.

“In this… ecosystem, the Port Authority [of Jamaica], Jamaica Customs Agency and the Maritime Authority want to grow these services to make our country more attractive and to, also, generate employment and revenue for Jamaican companies,” he added.

The director general said these services can employ significant numbers of skilled persons, adding that “they can generate revenue while they provide a service and make Jamaica an attractive place for ships”.

Smith indicated that the journey began in 2012, when the MAJ, with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat, developed documents to position Jamaica as a shipping centre.

“The consultant, at the time, identified three low hanging fruits (easy targets) which were dry-docking, bunkering and crewing. In collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, we were able to do further market studies to look at the feasibility of a ship repair facility — dry docking and bunkering — and since that time, both activities have commenced,” Smith explained.

“What we want to do now is to ensure that they are competitive and that they can grow,” the director general said.

He advised that this is phase one of the Maritime Cluster Development Programme, adding that the MAJ is focused on achieving those goals before embarking on phase two.

Smith said Phase 2 entails higher level services, such as ship finance, ship management, marine insurance and the modernisation of the Admiralty (Maritime) Jurisdiction.

He pointed out, however, that work has begun in some areas, highlighting that the Jamaican Bar Association recently established a Maritime Law Committee.

“This is indicating that we are now preparing our lawyers to deal with maritime-related matters that will come from the maritime cluster,” the director general added.

— JIS