PORT–Port St. Maarten management and operations representatives returned last week after attending the three-day Caribbean Port Management Workshop in Panama, January 22-24, organised and presented by Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC).
Port representatives dubbed this year’s first-ever PMAC conference a great success.
“Port St. Maarten had its opportunity to share their experience with a well-attended audience of port delegates and international associates there and their rebound initiatives that today have proven to be beneficial for the continued positive results we are currently experiencing for both cruise and cargo, notwithstanding the steps still needed to be taken for full recovery at the Port in terms of infrastructure repairs,” Port St. Maarten representatives said on Monday.
“The key, however, is that we have a solid, structured and strategic plan to ensure we regain our full operational excellence platform once again pre-Irma – building back for resiliency and never wasting a crisis, ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are properly documented within our response and recovery framework.
“Many delegates were impressed by Port St. Maarten’s quick turnaround to operational mode and will use Port St. Maarten as a key benchmark on what to do and how to execute after such a catastrophic ordeal, especially looking at Port St. Maarten as a major cruise and hub function destination for cargo lines within the region.
“Port St. Maarten will continue working with our members’ ports and its PMAC membership in ensuring we have a pivotal positioning in the building of a regional disaster assistance and relief network working on an integrated approach centred on one goal and one strategy.”
The three-day event brought together regional maritime-sector representatives who discussed a wide range of issues, including last year’s destruction caused by several major hurricanes, and what technologies, systems and networks are now necessary to deal with future hurricanes.
Other entities that assisted with the organisation of the workshop were Portside Caribbean and Caribbean Maritime University. Panama’s Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) hosted the workshop that was held at Sheraton Grand Hotel.
The workshop provided an early opportunity to analyse and initiate plans and strategies ahead of 2018’s hurricane season.
PMAC founding started with an inaugural meeting in Antigua on June26, 1998, having succeeded the Port Management Association of the Eastern Caribbean established on May 16, 1988. Its main objective is to improve the proficiency of member ports and the quality of services offered to their users, specifically through the facilitation of relevant training designed to maximise human resources and effectively meet the ever-increasing challenges of the global environment.
Current membership includes port organisations from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, French St. Martin, French Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, the Cayman Islands, Dutch St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Turks and Caicos Islands. There are also a number of associate members.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/73186-port-officials-return-from-caribbean-port-workshop
View comments
Hide comments