From left: Gavonnie Phipps, Alvin Sinclair, BITU vice-president, Derrick Forbes, and Francis Tavares get ready to board a vessel at the Panama Canal.

A delegation of workers, managers and trade unionists involved in the Jamaican shipping industry has returned to Jamaica "energised to ensure the growth and development of the Port of Kingston and our industry", according to Michael Bernard, president of the Shipping Association of Jamaica and mission leader.

The team left Jamaica on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 and returned on Sunday, August 17. During their time in Panama, the 18-member delegation toured the Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) at Colon, in the north of Panama as well as the Panama Canal. A smaller group within the delegation also met with Thomas Kenna, the recently appointed CEO of the Panama Canal Railway Company.

At MIT, the delegation was hosted by Mr. Juan Carlos Croston, vice-president of marketing, who made a presentation on vessel operations and later conducted a tour of the port for the Jamaican team. An animated discussion was also held in which SAJ port workers on the tour sought to understand details of work flow and operations planning at MIT.

Trip to Panama

The trip to Panama, which was supported by the Caribbean Shipping Association, (CSA) was planned by the SAJ and agreed at the Joint Industrial Council for Port Bustamante to allow shipping industry workers to compare local work methods to those practised in a port that competes with Jamaica for transshipment business. Based on regional competition, the SAJ recently increased the level of flexibility in its work practices and has been working with the workers and their unions to gain their support of the measures.

Carlos Urriola, CEO at MIT and current vice-president of the Caribbean Shipping Association, said that in the past such a visit would be inconceivable. "In the past we would have been more suspicious of each other. However, while there are clear areas in which we compete, I think it is more advantageous for MIT and Kingston to recognise that there are greater benefits in partnership between our two ports. We are too far south to compete with Jamaica and you don't have the Panama Canal. Based on your location, the lines will always need a northern Caribbean port and Jamaica is ideal. We are truly partners."

"At the same time", says Urriola, "this gives the CSA an opportunity to show relevance by working with both ports to deepen our understanding and partnership. This is what the CSA is all about ... sharing experiences to improve our ports and countries .... as we say in Spanish 'mi casa es tu casa' (your house is my house). Everybody wins".

According to SAJ President Bernard, the visit to the Panama Canal was also very special to the delegation. "In one sense, it brought home to the workers and managers the significant role played by fellow Jamaican workers in creating one of the engineering marvels of the world. Among other things, the Panama Canal Museum at Miraflores Lock depicts the contribution of Jamaicans in the construction of the canal.

Lesson learnt

"In another sense," continued Mr Bernard, "the port workers understood first-hand the importance of ensuring that vessels kept their schedule to transit the canal, as any delay in arriving at the appointed time would result in a five-day wait for ships on one leg of the journey, and perhaps longer on the return leg. This could result further in unrecoverable extra costs of several hundred thousand United States dollars for shipping lines and would serve as a disincentive to continue calling any port that contributed to such losses."

Deputy general secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Barry Dawes, said that "the knowledge gleaned is significant in advancing the competitive posture of Port Bustamante within the context of the global shipping industry. We are confident that the local partners - the workers, trades unions and managers - will seize the opportunity to ensure the growth and success of the local terminals".

That view was supported by Alvin Sinclair, vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU). "It was a very good trip", he said, adding "with shipping being the most globalised industry in the world, the visit gave us an excellent platform to understand the nature of competition between ports in the region and it focuses our energies in improving Kingston not just as a regional hub, but also to compete globally as larger vessels come on stream and more sophisticated equipment is positioned at different ports.

"Kingston stands an excellent opportunity to benefit from all these innovations going forward and the port workers in Kingston are well equipped to meet these challenges," concluded Mr Sinclair.

Excellent opportunity

SAJ Vice-President Roger Hinds and General Manager, Trevor Riley were also very positive about the benefits of the visit. According to Mr Hinds, the visit to MIT and the Panama Canal was an "excellent opportunity for the Jamaican workers and managers" as it could help the parties to formulate the context for the future of the Port.

"Things are changing and the parties need to understand the competition in order to position our Port appropriately in the increasingly complex shipping business," said Mr. Hinds.

For his part, Riley said that "although all participants will measure the success of our trip over the next few weeks and months, the signs are already clear that the visit was worthwhile. While there will continue to be some disagreement about aspects of the approach to the business of building the port, all of us, workers and managers, have returned with the zeal to continue to play our part in helping to prepare our Port for its expanded and ongoing role as a dynamic partner in the regional and global supply chain."

The delegation also included other representatives of the SAJ: "Diana Reynolds, HRD manager; Terrence Brooks, operations manager, recruiting; Alvin Henry, consultant; Francis Tavares, Jerome Gayle and William Raby, shift monitors; Kenroy Daley, Gavonnie Phipps and Jermaine Dacres, union delegates; and Clifton Gordon and Derrick Forbes, worker representatives. Kingston Wharves Limited was represented by Karen Gilbert, group chief financial officer; and Steve Whyte, group IT manager.

In conversation are (from left) Roger Hinds, vice-president of the SAJ, Thomas Kenna, president and director general of the Panama Canal Railway Company, Michael Bernard, president of the SAJ, Diana Reynolds, HRD manager, SAJ, and Trevor Riley, general manager, SAJ.