2009,
May 20, Cartagena Colombia: The Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) has
announced improvement to its annual Caribbean Port awards, effective this year.
The changes were announced at the 8th Caribbean Shipping Executives
Conference held May 18 to 20 in Cartagena, Colombia.
The CSA’s Port Awards Committee, in its continuing review of this
competition, recommended to General Council further improvement. It was decided
that:
1. all member ports of the
Caribbean Shipping Association will now be automatically involved in the
annual Caribbean Port Awards. This replaces the present situation in which
ports decide from year to year, whether (or not) they will enter the
competition;
2. the CSA will review the
performance of all ports, using objective data, (much of it gathered from port
users). This data will support information and statistics the CSA gathers from
the ports themselves. This means that the Port Awards adjudication committee
will use all information available to it to compare and contrast the
operations of ports in the region;
3. in addition to the two
top awards Best Container Terminal and Best Multi-purpose Terminal (which any
of the eligible ports can win), there will also be special awards recognizing
areas of performance. There will therefore be Special Awards which recognize
outstanding performance in specific aspects of port operations. The
adjudication panel will be making special awards which recognize: (1) port
efficiency and productivity; (2) dependability in operations; (3) security;
(4) safety; and, (5) specific initiatives towards growth and development.
The
adjudication process will have the CSA interacting with the ports. In this
interaction, the committee will be able to gather information from the ports
themselves which, together with the information from port users, will assist the
adjudication process.
By establishing the annual Caribbean Port Awards in 1987, the CSA made the
bold move to encourage and promote port development in the region. The annual
Caribbean Port of the Year competition encourages and promotes port development,
efficient and secure port operations. It recognizes those ports that have
sustained high levels of productivity while maintaining programmes for on-going
development of human resources and effective management systems.
The
Caribbean has all types of port and terminal operations, of varying sizes,
handling different kinds of business. There are large highly capitalized,
technology-driven ports and there are small ports, some more advanced
technologically than others. There are transshipment container terminals,
multi-purpose facilities and bulk terminals; and, there are ports which are
essentially cruise ship ports. All these ports are at various stages of
development. The selection process of the annual Caribbean port awards is
therefore a highly complex exercise.
Over the past 20 years, the CSA has revised the adjudication process a number
of times in order to keep the competition relevant. For example, in 2003, the
event was split into two sections so that multi-purpose ports would not compete
against container terminals.
