MONTEGO BAY, St James — Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has expressed optimism that Jamaica will be well-positioned to play a key role in the global supply chain once ongoing tariff disputes subside.

Speaking Thursday on the country’s strategic plans for development, Holness emphasised Jamaica’s efforts to leverage its human resources and geographic advantages to support international trade.

“In this world of [what] I want to describe as free and fair trade, it is my hope that after the tariff wars have settled down we can then have a world of free and fair trade; we would want to position Jamaica as a strategic location to supply the global supply chain. That’s where we are positioning ourselves, that’s the human resource we are creating, and that is the development of the natural geographic assets that we have to support this general trust,” Holness said.

Speaking at Thursday’s session of the Outsource2Jamaica Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, Holness said that for years Jamaica’s potential to become the logistics hub of the Americas has been widely discussed, but now the country is moving beyond vision and is actively turning that goal into reality.

The prime minister explained that at the core of Jamaica’s logistics strategy is the Port of Kingston, which is now ranked among the top 100 ports globally. Since 2016, through a 30-year concession agreement with Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL), more than US$400 million has been invested to upgrade and expand the terminal.

He noted that with the introduction of advanced geo-positioning systems, new cranes, and improved infrastructure, cargo volumes at the port have grown by more than 50 per cent since 2017, while employment has risen by more than 53 per cent.

The prime minister added that an additional US$50 million will be invested in 2025 to further boost the port’s equipment and capacity.

“This port expansion is a stepping stone towards logistics-led infrastructure and industrial development in the region. It is about positioning Jamaica as a regional hub for warehousing, distribution, e-commerce, e-commerce fulfilment, contract manufacturing and supply chains analytics,” he said.

Additionally, Holness said apart from the port, efforts are underway to drive transformational growth through the development of the Caymanas Special Economic Zone — a 700-acre site strategically located near the Port of Kingston and major highways.

“I am sure you would have heard us talk about the Caymanas Special Economic Zone. In fact, this has been talked about now for three past administrations. So many years we have talked about doing it. Well, as the builder, we are going to do it!” he said.

“And I am pleased to say we have now completed the engineering designs for the Special Economic Zone. The tender process for the first phase of land preparation is finalised, and all required approvals are in place,” he added.

Holness noted that ground breaking is expected in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

“So I would say in a other two months we should be able to break ground on the site,” the prime minister said.

Outsource2Jamaica is a conference and expo focused on Jamaica’s global services sector, specifically business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, and information technology-enabling services. Logistics is the next big outsourcing opportunity in the third-party segment. The conference was held under the theme: “Driving Excellence”.

The event is hosted by the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) and is designed to showcase Jamaica’s potential as a leading English-speaking outsourcing hub in the Caribbean.

Chairman of Outsource2Jamaica Gloria Henry explained that the organisation underwent a name change in 2019 from the Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ) to the GSAJ, in recognition of the need to support Jamaica’s growing and evolving global services sector.

“We changed our name in 2019 from Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica to Global Services Association of Jamaica as we saw the need to support this new emerging sector in Jamaica.

“Caymanas is being developed by the Port Authority of Jamaica. We are looking to support the development by encouraging and supporting new investors in third-party logistics and other outsourcing segments,” Henry told the Jamaica Observer.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness addressing Thursday’s session of the Outsource2Jamaica Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.