Container transshipment at Kingston, Jamaica

Transshipment of containers is the fastest growing segment of the container port market. Competition among ports to attract large vessels and thus enhance the potential for transshipment leads one to consider the necessary attributes of a transshipment port. To this end, two fundamental geographical factors, site and situation, are at play. Using Kingston, Jamaica as an example, this paper analyses the importance of two situation factors, centrality and intermediacy, operating at three geographical scales (global, hemispheric and regional), in explaining the use of Kingston as a transshipment centre. In 2006, Kingston had 37 distinct container shipping services identified as global (14), hemispheric (6) and regional (17). At the global level, shipping lines are trading on Kingston’s high intermediacy situation especially relative to the Panama Canal. Centrality would explain the hemispheric activity although to a somewhat limited extent. Both centrality and intermediacy explain Kingston as a regional hub for feeder services to all corners of the Caribbean Basin.