Jamaica Ports Authority to Come to TCI

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, September 2, 2022 – In the latest partnership between Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica Ports Authority will be coming to the TCI to make a presentation to cabinet in the near future.  The invitation was extended after a TCI delegation was privy to the presentation on a recent trip to Jamaica.  Arlington Musgrove, Minister Immigration and Border Services, raved about the presentation witnessed by himself and Permanent Secretary Althea Been.

“We had the opportunity to attend a dynamic meeting with Professor Gordon Shirley, the CEO of the Ports Authority and his team —- we were treated to an amazing and informative presentation which clearly demonstrates the ways in which the organization – is literally transforming the lives of their people through port and facility management;”

Describing the information as sensitive, Musgrove did not go into detail, but revealed that they had made decisions on

• the security of ports
• Scanning of containers
• Importation permits and
• Matters of funding.

The visit was so successful that the minister said, if there was a single engagement they had to choose from, it would have been this one.

In addition, Musgrove and Been met with Andrew Winter, CEO of the Immigration Department, and his team.  The TCI delegation was clued in on methods of operation in Jamaica which Musgrove said he admired and was keen to implement in the islands.

Those methods included

• strict regulation of passport agencies and quarterly meetings to hear their grievances
• Safeguards against fraudulent documents, an issue which is common in the TCI

With regard to the safeguarding of documents he said, “There are a number of measures that the team has to validate documents which I will not disclose at this time, and yet they were achieving 80 percent delivery within three working days.”

Describing it as a significant achievement,  Musgrove said this swift turnaround time was one of the things the TCI was committed to and would be creating a Customer Charter as a promise to citizens on delivery times for the various documents.

Musgrove did not give a timeline for implementation of the immigration changes, or the ports authority visit, but expressed that they hoped to put certain measures in place for stopping fraudulent documents by the end of August.