# Kingston (JMKIN)

**UN/LOCODE:** JMKIN  
**Country:** Jamaica  
**Water Body:** Caribbean Sea; North Atlantic Ocean  
**Harbor Size:** Medium  
**Harbor Type:** Coastal (Natural)  
**GPS:** 17.9667, -76.7833

Rated at around 2.8 million TEU and rising, Kingston (JMKIN) is the Caribbean's leading container transshipment hub, operated since 2016 by Kingston Freeport Terminal (KFTL), a CMA CGM subsidiary. The 30-year concession with the Port Authority of Jamaica dates from 2015, and the port works as a relay rather than a cargo destination. Boxes are exchanged between deep-sea east-west services and regional feeders, with the Panama Canal trade lanes only about 50 km away. Its North, South and West terminals handled more than 2.3 million TEU in 2023, with roughly 1.4 million moves projected for 2025. A channel depth near 17 m and berths up to 14 m handle large Neopanamax vessels. A US$50 million modernisation launched in 2024 — including two Super-Post-Panamax cranes delivered in October 2025 and an automated gate — plus the Westlands expansion (15 ha, +600,000 TEU) aim to lift capacity to about 3.6 million TEU. Forwarders should remember that most containers are pure transit and never clear Jamaican customs; local imports center on consumer goods, building materials and food, while exports include alumina, rum and coffee. For alternative relay options, Caucedo (Dominican Republic), Cartagena (Colombia) and Colón (Panama) compete for the same flows.

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*Freight Academy — Seaport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/seaports/kingston-port-jmkin](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/seaports/kingston-port-jmkin)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/seaports/en/kingston-port-jmkin](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/seaports/en/kingston-port-jmkin)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/seaports/kingston-port-jmkin/llm-summary?lang=en*