Kingston Is Moving an Airport to Make Room for Its Port

• $80 million Westlands port expansion signed
• 15 hectares added in phase one
• Tinson Pen Aerodrome set to relocate
• Cargo volumes up 58% since 2016

The Port Authority of Jamaica and Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited signed an agreement for the Westlands Expansion Project, a US$80 million investment adding 15 hectares of storage capacity to the port in its first phase, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced at the signing. The work will focus on strengthening soil conditions, eliminating flooding, upgrading security and building a modern automated gate system for domestic cargo, ahead of new berth construction.

The expansion responds to real demand pressure: cargo volumes through the terminal have risen 58 percent since 2016, and Holness framed the project as necessary to keep pace with larger vessels now able to transit the expanded Panama Canal, putting Jamaica in more direct competition with regional transshipment hubs like Panama and Cartagena.

The land question behind the expansion is bigger than the 15 hectares in this first phase. In his 2025-26 Budget Debate contribution, Holness restated the government’s plan to relocate the Tinson Pen Aerodrome, Kingston’s domestic airstrip, to Norman Manley International Airport, freeing up the vacated land for expanded port development. The Airports Authority of Jamaica has completed its feasibility analysis and is working with the Port Authority and the National Works Agency on the next phase, a land-use trade that would hand an entire airport’s footprint over to cargo operations.

The port’s history is one of repeated expansion outpacing its own targets. A 2007 phase five upgrade lifted capacity from 1.5 million to 3.2 million TEUs at a cost of roughly US$240 million; a further expansion was already under discussion by 2017 to accommodate the larger ships the Panama Canal’s own expansion had made possible. The pattern suggests the Westlands project, and the airport land behind it, is unlikely to be the terminal’s last word on capacity either.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com