Kingston transshipments off in 2007

Kingston transshipments off in 2007 Port Authority of Jamaica statistics show transshipment tonnage moving over the Kingston Container Terminal decreased nearly 13 percent during the first half of 2007, even before facing the impact of Maersk Line's decision to drop direct calls at the Port of Kingston this month.
   Maersk Line announced at the end of July that it would trim its Asia-Caribbean (AC1) service in October by dropping calls at Kingston and Manzanillo, Panama, while instead using Balboa, Panama, as its feeder hub for the entire Caribbean region. Dropping the calls allows Maersk to operate a weekly service with seven vessels instead of eight.
   The change will negatively impact volumes at KCT, which traditionally handles transshipment cargo in containers, with only a small portion of the cargo being generated by the domestic Jamaican market.
   The port authority said transshipments at the KCT declined to 5.74 million metric tons through July, compared with 6.58 metric million tons for the same period in 2006. Cargo tonnage increased 4.4 percent in July, trimming the year-to-date decline to 10 percent at 6.68 million tons.
   The port authority is reportedly in talks to increase services with other carriers to offset the loss of the Maersk business.
   Port authority spokesman Pat Belanfanti told the Jamaica Gleaner he actually expects to see an upturn in KCT volumes during the second half of 2007.