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Kingston Wharves going after lands near ports
Camilo Thame
Jamaica Observer Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Kingston Wharves Ltd (KWL) is pressing ahead with plans to create an industrial park, for which it has been attempting to acquire several properties and land space that would give it total control of Third Street, in Newport West.
But the cargo handling firm has hit a major hurdle, with some of the landowners either refusing outright to part with their real estate, or balking at the price being offered.
As part of this ambition Kingston Wharves recently acquired the property on which West Indies Glass Company once operated on Ashenheim Road, just north of Newport West.
WI Glass was a bottle manufacturer that closed its doors at the end of the 1990s. It is located beside Tinson Pen aerodrome, which the Port Authority of Jamaica has been eyeing for some time now to accommodate its own expansion.
However, KWL approached several operations located on Third Street in an attempt to "acquire more land and offices for its expansion", but the overtures were rejected by these businesses.
Grantley Stephenson, managing director of KWL, declined comments on these developments when contacted by the Business Observer last week. However, he said that "any matter dealing with land acquisition will be dealt with in a week or two" at a press conference.
James Robertson, a principal of Precision Enterprises - a cold storage operations located on the same street -noted that his company, among others, had accepted the buy-out plan in principle, but would only accommodate KWL if the purchase price was reasonable.
"We are in support of it," Robertson told the Business Observer yesterday. "It is just a matter of a fair market price being offered to persons in control of the properties that are there."
Robertson added that he believed his own operations could be integrated into the industrial park scheme.
"I believe we will be able to work together," he said.
But another company Zoukie Trucking, which is headquartered along the same street, is said to have rejected the overtures out of hand, because it did not want to give up its strategic location close to the ports.
The land acquisition drive comes at a time when Kingston Wharves is expanding and upgrading its capacity to accommodate larger vessels at a total cost of $1.6 billion.
During 2005, the company spent approximately $718 million buying freehold land and to acquire cargo handling equipment. $417 million of this amount was spent in the fourth quarter alone.
In its most recent financial statement - for the year ending December 31, 2005 - the company noted in a statement to shareholders that it would incur "further expenditure targeted at accommodating larger vessels, freeing up dock space and increasing productivity," during 2006.
KWL's bid to grab land close to its location also comes at a time when the PAJ is eyeing the 100 acres of land to its north, which is now occupied by the Tinson Pen Aerodrome, as a potential expansion site, as part of its drive to position Jamaica as a major centre for the distribution of goods for the Americas from China, Europe and South America.
The PAJ has already completed phase four of its development, which has seen an increase in the Kingston Container Terminal's handling capacity from the equivalent of 1.2 million 20-foot containers (TEU) per year to 1.5 million. It has begun phase five, which will increase capacity to 2.5 million TEUs.
For 2005, Kingston Wharves handled 1.74 million tonnes of cargo through it nine berths, 8.3 per cent less than the previous year.
Camilo Thame
Jamaica Observer Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Kingston Wharves Ltd (KWL) is pressing ahead with plans to create an industrial park, for which it has been attempting to acquire several properties and land space that would give it total control of Third Street, in Newport West.
But the cargo handling firm has hit a major hurdle, with some of the landowners either refusing outright to part with their real estate, or balking at the price being offered.
As part of this ambition Kingston Wharves recently acquired the property on which West Indies Glass Company once operated on Ashenheim Road, just north of Newport West.
WI Glass was a bottle manufacturer that closed its doors at the end of the 1990s. It is located beside Tinson Pen aerodrome, which the Port Authority of Jamaica has been eyeing for some time now to accommodate its own expansion.
However, KWL approached several operations located on Third Street in an attempt to "acquire more land and offices for its expansion", but the overtures were rejected by these businesses.
Grantley Stephenson, managing director of KWL, declined comments on these developments when contacted by the Business Observer last week. However, he said that "any matter dealing with land acquisition will be dealt with in a week or two" at a press conference.
James Robertson, a principal of Precision Enterprises - a cold storage operations located on the same street -noted that his company, among others, had accepted the buy-out plan in principle, but would only accommodate KWL if the purchase price was reasonable.
"We are in support of it," Robertson told the Business Observer yesterday. "It is just a matter of a fair market price being offered to persons in control of the properties that are there."
Robertson added that he believed his own operations could be integrated into the industrial park scheme.
"I believe we will be able to work together," he said.
But another company Zoukie Trucking, which is headquartered along the same street, is said to have rejected the overtures out of hand, because it did not want to give up its strategic location close to the ports.
The land acquisition drive comes at a time when Kingston Wharves is expanding and upgrading its capacity to accommodate larger vessels at a total cost of $1.6 billion.
During 2005, the company spent approximately $718 million buying freehold land and to acquire cargo handling equipment. $417 million of this amount was spent in the fourth quarter alone.
In its most recent financial statement - for the year ending December 31, 2005 - the company noted in a statement to shareholders that it would incur "further expenditure targeted at accommodating larger vessels, freeing up dock space and increasing productivity," during 2006.
KWL's bid to grab land close to its location also comes at a time when the PAJ is eyeing the 100 acres of land to its north, which is now occupied by the Tinson Pen Aerodrome, as a potential expansion site, as part of its drive to position Jamaica as a major centre for the distribution of goods for the Americas from China, Europe and South America.
The PAJ has already completed phase four of its development, which has seen an increase in the Kingston Container Terminal's handling capacity from the equivalent of 1.2 million 20-foot containers (TEU) per year to 1.5 million. It has begun phase five, which will increase capacity to 2.5 million TEUs.
For 2005, Kingston Wharves handled 1.74 million tonnes of cargo through it nine berths, 8.3 per cent less than the previous year.
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