The Norman Manley Airport in Kingston.
Ayanna Kirton, Staff Reporter
THE GLOBAL Alliance of Transportation Systems (GATS), a two-year-old subsidiary of Swiss Post International, created for the safe receipt and speedy handling of international postal products, has finalised an agreement with the Postal Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) to open and operate an airmail hub in Jamaica.
The hub, which will become fully operational in September this year, will be located at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. From there, mail will be transported to the entire Caribbean region, Central America and countries in the northern part of South America. Officials said the agreement was made because Jamaica's proximity to the United States, the wider Caribbean as well as the Americas, makes it an ideal location to serve those regions.
According to Geoff Formstone, managing director of GATS, Jamaica's advantageous position will enable the company and the PCJ to provide national postal administrations worldwide with an efficient network and beneficial mailing solutions. The idea, he explained, is to lower the origin and destination transportation costs of mail by maximising volumes between the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Central and South America.
"It is more efficient to purchase cargo space for a container of mail than to transport mail in smaller amounts," he said. "The challenge, however, is filling those containers, maximising the volume of mail to make the process as efficient as possible."
Chris Stephens, co-managing director of GATS, said the objectives and vision of the PCJ were similar to those of Global Alliance. "We both share the same vision and we want to take advantage of the Jamaica Postal Corporation's alliance with Air Jamaica," he said.
The operation will also facilitate the tracking of individual bags of mail processed through the GATS/ PCJ facility. All postal operators throughout the region will have access to a password-protected Internet system to track and trace mailbags en route to their final destinations.
In addition, all the PCJ's regional sales and marketing activities for the venture will be supported by GATS. According to Blossom O'Meally Nelson, the PCJ's chief executive officer, making Jamaica an international mail hub will give the island positive international recognition, putting it in the company of other international hubs. "This new service will move Jamaica forward in terms of technological improvements," she said, in reference to the introduction of the Internet-based tracking system. "We have the manpower, and our airport facility along with our administrative capability will make this partnership a success. Jamaica's location makes us the ideal consolidation point for the distribution of mail throughout the region, and our national carrier, Air Jamaica, will be integral in the process because of its reach."
