CMU proud of role in building logistics talent pool

Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) President Professor Andrew Spencer has shied away from grading the Government’s push to create a logistics-centred economy, but has insisted that his institution is working to provide the skills needed to drive the change.

Spencer said the task requires a joint approach among the Government, the Port Authority of Jamaica, the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority, and the CMU, which has been looking at the human capital.

“I am satisfied that we’re given sufficient support to do what we need to do to move forward,” Spencer asserted when pressed on the matter.

His declaration came during last Wednesday’s Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston.

According to the CMU president, the lion’s share of students on roll at the university are Jamaicans, putting that figure at approximately 2,800 of the 3,000 students registered.

“So, we’re serving Jamaica. We’re equipping Jamaica. But a lot of the behind-the-scenes work that we’re doing is to ensure that the talent is ready on day one. One of the largest companies, Kingston Free Port Terminal, Kingston Wharves, we’re supplying them daily,” he said.

During his Sectoral Debate presentation last year, Anthony Hylton, opposition spokesperson on global logistics, urged the Government to begin talks with Singapore and other international partners to create a successful logistics-centred economy.

He said that to get this done, integrated policies, improvement of physical and digital infrastructure and development of human capital must be targeted and sustained for 10 to 15 years.

ADMINISTRATION’S KEY GOAL

The Government has maintained that developing Jamaica into a more robust global logistics centre, that connects the Americas to the rest of the world, is a key goal of the Holness administration.

Senator Aubyn Hill, minister of industry, investment and commerce, has indicated the Government’s intention to promote economic expansion at the Port of Kingston, which is based in the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world, in its push to make the island the logistics hub of the region.

The European Union (EU) is expected to provide key support in assisting Jamaica to attract investment through its Global Gateway Agenda.

In February, the Port of Kingston announced a US$30-million investment, which should see the redevelopment of the Kingston Wharves Limited-operated Berth 7.

But whether the Government has been aggressive enough in its push to centre Jamaica’s economy on logistics has been debatable.

“The truth is, the Government has had to give a nod to things that have emerged without their doing. So the COVID-19 pandemic pushed us into a supply-chain boost for people who are mediators of what we desire and how we get it,” Dr Evette Smith Johnson, CMU’s director of graduate studies and research, noted.

Pointing to the Government’s decision to increase the duty-free threshold for personal items imported into Jamaica and goods being brought from abroad, Smith Johnson said the third-party logistics business is expected to expand.

“All over, we have [businesses], Jamaicans coming out of the CMU, who have capitalised on that as an entrepreneurship space. Government has had to backpedal to recognise that this is new business.

“So, we have [caused] Government to recognise that if they don’t take charge of it, it’s going anyway,” she said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com