Striking workers disrupted Jamaica's main container port for hours on 9 October, its operator said.

Cargo recorded as originating in Jamaica made up 28% of all tonnage landed at the George Town cargo port in 2025, the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands (PACI) told The Caymanian Journal on 13 October. The share was 22% in 2024 and 23% for the first eight months of 2026. The only vessel due from Kingston that weekend, the Seaboard Sun, arrived on the evening of Friday 9 October and left in the early hours of Saturday, PACI said. No shipping line or agent had told it of any stoppage. Seaboard advertises a 36-hour transit from Kingston, which would put the vessel's departure before the walk-out began.

The dispute that caused the walk-out is not settled. The workers want Jamaica's Ministry of Labour and Social Security to set a date for a poll on which union should represent them, and said they would strike again if they did not get a favourable answer. No date had been announced by the time of publication.

Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL), which runs the terminal for French shipping line CMA CGM, said in a statement on 9 October that "some members of staff" had taken part in "illegal industrial action" that "affected terminal activities for several hours". It said normal operations had resumed "in the interim" after a meeting called by the Ministry, that it was "committed to addressing this matter through constructive engagement and good-faith discussions with all parties", and that it would extend operating hours to clear cargo. It said measures were in place to process cargo and limit the effect on customers, and thanked them for their patience. It did not say why it regarded the action as illegal or how many workers took part.

The workers' representatives put the numbers higher. Ricaado Ennis, a representative of the Port Supervisors Union, told The Gleaner, a Kingston daily newspaper, on 9 October that the action began at about 11pm on Thursday 8 October, that more than 1,000 workers took part, that KFTL employs about 1,325 people and that more than 800 had expressed interest in changing union. "You (KFTL) need to listen to the workers; they are a major stakeholder," he said. "We call for a date for a representation poll." He said a meeting with managers on Friday morning had been "very unsuccessful". The newspaper, which had a reporter at the wharf, also reported that police were called, that the protest was peaceful, that trailers carrying containers sat in gridlock at one section of the port, and that an unnamed crane operator said the request for a poll had been outstanding for "almost two years".

The accounts differ on scale and timing. The union and the Jamaica Star put the number on strike at more than 1,000. Irie FM said hundreds. KFTL said "some members of staff". KFTL said terminal activities were affected for several hours; Nationwide 90FM said the morning shift returned two to three hours into its shift. The figures are the union's. KFTL, the Ministry and the Port Authority of Jamaica had not answered questions sent by The Caymanian Journal on 12 October by the time of publication.

The dispute is about who speaks for the workforce rather than about pay directly. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has held bargaining rights at the terminal since KFTL took over in 2016. A group of workers now wants the Port Supervisors Union instead and says the TUC has not represented them adequately on salaries and benefits. The TUC has not commented publicly on that claim.

Andre Duncan, an industrial relations consultant advising the workers, told Irie FM on 9 October that the Port Supervisors Union last wrote to the Ministry on 21 September asking for a poll date.

Pearnel Charles Jr, Jamaica's Minister of Labour and Social Security, described the 9 October meeting as "fruitful" and said the matter was progressing, Irie FM reported. The Ministry has not published a statement.

A Nationwide 90FM reporter who went to Berth 11 on 9 October saw night-shift workers waiting around while the morning shift went back to work two to three hours into its shift. The station reported that the workers who walked out included engineers, technicians, planners, straddle-carrier operators, crane operators and forklift drivers, that the three day shifts stayed off the job until the meeting was convened, and that they were also demanding better pay and working conditions. A worker who declined to be named told the station the strike would resume if the meeting did not produce a favourable result.

Under section 5 of Jamaica's Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act 1975, the Minister may cause a ballot of workers to be taken to settle a union's claim for bargaining rights. Where the employer and union disagree over which workers should vote, the Minister refers that question to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal under section 5(3). The Ministry runs the poll, and the union that wins it holds the bargaining rights for those workers.

For Cayman, the significance is in the numbers PACI released on 13 October.

Of 827,528 tonnes of cargo recorded at the George Town cargo port in 2025, 231,744 tonnes were logged with Jamaica as the port of origin. That was up 33% on the 174,771 tonnes recorded in 2024, when total tonnage was 807,421. Total tonnage grew 2.5% over the same period, so Jamaica's growth outpaced the port as a whole. From January to August 2026 the figure was 130,535 tonnes of 576,571, which PACI said should not be read as a full-year comparison.

PACI said the port-of-origin figures record cargo originating in Jamaica and should not be read as the total passing through Kingston, because cargo transhipped through Kingston from other countries is logged separately. The Kingston figure may therefore be higher. PACI publishes the statistics on its website.

The Authority said it was not "formally advised" of the stoppage by Seaboard Marine, the agent for the vessel, and that the Seaboard Sun's next estimated arrival is 15 or 16 October, with no notice of disruption received. Vessel movements remain subject to confirmation by the lines and agents, it said.

Asked whether it had contingency plans for a prolonged disruption at Kingston, PACI said alternative routes, schedules and the movement of cargo through overseas ports "are primarily managed by the respective shipping lines, agents and importers". Its job, it said, was to provide the infrastructure and services to move cargo once it reached Cayman, and it would coordinate with agents and make local arrangements to accommodate vessels if a disruption were prolonged.

"The George Town Cargo Port remains fully operational and ready to receive vessels servicing the Cayman Islands," PACI said. "As an island jurisdiction, the Cayman Islands depends heavily on maritime transportation for the importation of essential goods, commercial supplies and other commodities," it said. Developments at overseas ports fell outside its direct control, it said, and it encouraged importers with questions about specific shipments to contact their shipping line or agent.

Seaboard Marine runs the weekly direct service between Kingston and George Town, and its local agent, Cayman Freight Shipping Services, is one of eight shipping companies and agents listed by PACI. Kingston is one of seven ports PACI lists as handling cargo to and from Grand Cayman, alongside Port Everglades, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami in Florida, Mobile in Alabama, and Montego Bay.

Seaboard's Kingston cargo is received at Kingston Wharves Limited, a separate terminal with a different operator, according to the company's announcement in September 2025 of a refrigerated consolidation service to Grand Cayman promising a 36-hour transit. Seaboard's chief executive in Jamaica, Corah Ann Robertson-Sylvester, said then that the service was launched to meet "increased demand to have Jamaican produce in Cayman in a timely manner". Seaboard could not be reached for comment before publication.

The 9 October stoppage is the third time in eight years that labour trouble has stopped or slowed work at KFTL.

On 7 December 2018, all categories of workers represented by the TUC walked off the job over what the union called management's conduct in wage negotiations. Barry Dawes, then the TUC's general secretary, said the workers were protesting the alleged actions of management, Radio Jamaica reported. Ricardo Valentine, president of the Port Trailer Haulage Association, said that day that the stoppage had created "a logistical nightmare" for truckers who had already assigned vehicles to other jobs. Professor Gordon Shirley, president of the Port Authority of Jamaica, mediated. Cargo leaves the terminal by truck, and every haulage company working there must be registered with the Shipping Association of Jamaica, according to the Logistics Cluster, a United Nations-led network. A stoppage at the cranes also stops the trucks, which is why consignees in Jamaica felt the 2018 walk-out within hours, on Valentine's account.

In January 2025 scores of production workers called in sick on Monday 27 January and again on Thursday 30 January. The Jamaica Star reported that the dispute was over a job-evaluation exercise covering 2020 to 2024 that would have given workers a cumulative 9.2% increase but excluded some colleagues. The company had offered to widen the pool of workers covered and to backdate the sums to January 2024 rather than 2020, the Star reported, and the union wanted regular salaries adjusted rather than a one-off payment. Workers also accused their union of failing to communicate. The Port Authority of Jamaica said a new wage agreement was signed on 30 January 2025, but Radio Jamaica reported that disgruntled workers then sought the Ministry's intervention.

The terminal is the largest in Jamaica and one of the main transhipment hubs in the Caribbean. The Logistics Cluster describes it as the main gateway for containerised cargo into Jamaica, with about 90% of containers passing through for transhipment and 10% for the domestic market. The Logistics Cluster describes KFTL as a public-private partnership between the Port Authority of Jamaica and CMA CGM.

KFTL has run the former Kingston Container Terminal since midnight on 30 June 2016 under a 30-year concession from the Port Authority of Jamaica, which still owns the land and regulates the Port of Kingston. The deal was valued at US$510 million. KFTL paid US$75 million up front, pays a fixed US$15 million a year in lease and pays 8% of gross revenue monthly, and must hand the terminal back to the Jamaican Government at the end of the 30 years.

The Port Authority had shortlisted three bidders, DP World, PSA and CMA CGM, and the other two dropped out, Splash247, a shipping news site, reported in April 2015. The concession required KFTL to deepen the harbour and expand capacity in two phases, to 3.2 million and then 3.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units a year, with the draught taken to 15.5 metres. The terminal has 2,400 metres of wharf and an 80-hectare yard, Port Technology International reported in July 2016.

The Inter-American Development Bank approved a senior loan of up to US$175 million for the project in December 2015, and the Dutch development bank FMO committed US$30 million. Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in November 2022 that capacity at the port had almost doubled under the concession and about 200 jobs had been added.

What was agreed at the 9 October meeting has not been published. KFTL said it would provide updates as developments arose. The Ministry has given no date for a poll and has not said whether one will be held. The workers' representatives have said they will walk out again if the answer is not favourable. For Cayman, the next test is whether the Seaboard Sun arrives in George Town as scheduled on 15 or 16 October.