“Commercial Awareness Is Global.”
Jamaica’s progress towards being a Global Logistics Hub might appear to be slow, especially when compared to what Panama appears to be doing but Jamaica’s progress is real and it is meaningful.
Opportunities abound for the MSMEs in a logistics centered economy, moreover, many of these opportunities do not lie in the distant future but are here and now.
A business friendly environment because it facilitates trade and investment is a large part of the foundational work being carried out by the Government of Jamaica.
What Jamaica represents is a centralized location in the Americas where logistics and related activities can all be clustered on one island. Jamaica will become a platform for the use of digital technology to plan the design, production, packaging and distribution of goods; financial services; a strategic depot for the storage of natural resources, ship and airplane repair, legal services, tourism and so on.
The development of Jamaica’s airfreight sector is indispensable and is a high priority for the Logistics Hub Initiative, even more so than its maritime counterpart. This is due to the fact that higher valued merchandise is usually transported by air and Jamaica’s air connectivity enhances our near shore advantage for goods destined to the Americas.
The simplest answer is that ports and airports, while very important, in the main facilitate trade and economic activity while the SEZs are the drivers of economic activity, economic development and wealth creation for the people of Jamaica.
Expansive special economic zones facilitating assembly, warehousing, sorting, distribution and other value-added services, particularly for industries catering to time sensitive and high-value cargo
The Government of Jamaica is creating the enabling environment that will be attractive to firms that engage in all forms of multimodal logistics.
In a move to further encourage the development of China’s stock markets and long term investment, the government in this move is trying to discouraging something that has plagued western markets – short term speculation.
Jamaica’s swashbuckling days are long behind it however it geo-strategic potential still remains strong. Jamaica is smack dab in the middle of both the western hemisphere – North and South America. Just think half way between the largest market in the world in the USA and one of the top emerging economies in Brazil – what are the possibilities?