Oct 26, 2026
3 min read
Urgent capital investment in Caribbean ports is needed to cut shipping costs that are driving up the cost of living and weakening regional competitiveness.
President Dr Irfaan Ali made the call on Monday at the opening of the 56th Annual General Meeting, Conference and Exhibition of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) at the Guyana Marriott Hotel. He proposed an urgent regional policy document, backed by the Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest, to attract financing for port modernisation.
"What is required immediately now is investment, capital investment," he said.
Ali said high transportation costs, uneven port infrastructure, weak intra-Caribbean trade, climate-related disasters and geopolitical instability are interconnected and demand a coordinated response from governments, operators, investors and development partners.
"Ultimately, high shipping costs become a cost of living problem for people and a competitiveness problem for businesses," he said.
A key factor, he said, is that many territories depend on transshipment, which adds cargo handling, lengthens transit times and makes schedules unreliable. Guyana has had containers held at transshipment ports for extended periods, which has delayed projects and raised costs.
"We had containers sitting on some transshipment ports for a year and a half, two years, nine months," he said.
Citing a May 2026 International Monetary Fund working paper, Ali said shipping costs in most Caribbean countries exceed the global average. A 2018 IDB study, he added, found that many regional ports were at least 50 years old and built for a different commercial environment.
Turning to Guyana, he pointed to the proposed deep-water port and dredging of the Demerara River to accommodate larger vessels, part of a strategy to link the country with northern Brazil and other markets. Private investment in shore bases and port facilities along the river over the past four to five years could exceed US$1 billion, he said, but more financing will be needed.
To attract that capital, he urged stakeholders to examine the fiscal incentives and banking arrangements required.
"What is the mechanism that is required to unlock financing?" he asked.
Ali also called for simpler customs procedures and harmonised documentation to ease intra-Caribbean trade, and for climate-resilient ports with stronger coastal protection, drainage and power systems. He urged governments and businesses to expand storage capacity and diversify supply sources, and cautioned that the costs of shipping's shift to cleaner fuels must be carefully assessed for smaller economies.
The four-day conference, which runs until October 28 under the theme "Building a More Connected, Resilient and Competitive Caribbean," brings together more than 450 maritime stakeholders, policymakers and industry experts.
