President and CEO of Port Authority of Jamaica, Noel Hylton, left, and a section of the audience last Wednesday. - Contributed PRESIDENT AND Chief Executive Officer of the Port Authority of Jamaica, Noel Hylton, has identified the drivers of the future of the shipping industry as being high-end technology, bigger, faster vessels, highly-skilled and efficient workers and five hub ports servicing international trade.
"It is my projection that there are going to be bigger ships, freight rates will continue to go down, there will be only five mega hub ports and more educated workers who are even more computer literate than we have today," he observed.
Addressing portworkers, shipping managers and trade union representatives last Wednesday, Mr. Hylton said the Port of Kingston was mindful of these factors and was laying the groundwork to improve the competitiveness of the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT), utilising the latest technology and equipment and well-trained personnel.
He was speaking on the 'Future of the Shipping Industry' as part of a panel discussion, which also involved trade unionist, Lloyd Goodleigh who addressed the subject of the 'Future of Union/Management Relations'. The panel discussion was part of activities organised to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Joint Industrial Council for Port Bustamante.
He said it was imperative that the KCT had the necessary prerequisites in place to compete effectively with other facilities in the region. He said when the KCT was started 25 years ago it was the only transshipment facility in the region, but this was not the case today as there were several in direct competition with Jamaica. Jamaica now has to compete with two terminals in Panama, one in Bahamas, one underway in the Dominican Republic and one in Puerto Rico.
"There is a limited amount of cargo to go around...", Mr. Hylton observed, while emphasising the fact that the only way the port can survive will be the one with suitable pricing and highest levels of efficiency and productivity.
Additionally, he mentioned the capability to accommodate larger vessels, which are currently being built to carry up to 8,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs). For the first time recently the KCT saw new Zim vessels with the capacity for some 5,000 TEUs visiting the port. This could be accommodated following the dredging of the harbour and the purchase of post panamax gantry cranes.
"We cannot go along in the industry as we have been doing in the past. The question of negotiations and management operating as in the past cannot go on... We have to come together for the overall good of the industry," Mr. Hylton stressed.
In his comments, Mr. Goodleigh underscored the need for there to be a change in the way management/union relationship is proceeding. Mr. Goodleigh said globalisation dictated that there had to be paradigm shifts in how hard-held myths were viewed.
Observing that the technological revolution was driving all the processes and opportunities of the future, he said labour/ management relationship will be "less adversarial and more focused on the question of efficiency, productivity social justice and equity for all".
