What empty container movements say about Caribbean trade imbalances
Container traffic statistics often focus on loaded cargo. Yet one of the most revealing figures in Port of Spain’s latest throughput data is not the number of full containers moving through the terminal, but the volume of empty ones. In 2025, the Trinidadian port handled 95,049 TEUs of transshipment empty containers, compared with 86,806 TEUs […]
The Caribbean cruise industry enters a new growth cycle
The Caribbean cruise industry is entering a new expansion cycle — one increasingly shaped by infrastructure capacity, premium travel demand, operational competitiveness and long-term destination strategy rather than passenger growth alone. Discussions held during the 2025 FCCA Cruise Conference & Trade Show in San Juan reflected the scale of that transition. At the time, industry […]
CMA CGM and MSC tighten their grip on Port of Spain ’s container traffic
Two global shipping groups dominated container activity at Port of Spain in 2025, reinforcing the concentration trends shaping Caribbean liner shipping networks. Data published by the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago show that CMA CGM and MSC together accounted for the vast majority of container throughput handled at the Trinidadian port during the year. […]
Saint Lucia seeks a unified maritime voice amid growing regional pressures
As Caribbean shipping enters a more demanding operational and regulatory environment, Saint Lucia is attempting to strengthen something many smaller maritime jurisdictions across the region have historically struggled to build: a coordinated industry voice. The creation of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Shipping marks a significant step in that direction. Presented in recent coverage by […]
Port of Spain ’s container rebound reinforces Trinidad’s role in Southern Caribbean shipping
Port of Spain handled 357,820 TEUs in 2025, marking its strongest annual container performance in more than a decade and confirming the port’s growing importance within Southern Caribbean shipping networks. The figures, published by the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, also reveal the scale of transshipment activity underpinning Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime positioning. The […]
How Port Purcell outperformed larger Caribbean terminals in 2025
For years, the Caribbean’s container port hierarchy has largely been dominated by the region’s major transshipment hubs. Larger facilities in Jamaica, The Bahamas or Trinidad typically attract most of the attention when conversations turn to cargo performance, infrastructure investment and regional competitiveness. That is what made the 2025 results of the Caribbean Shipping Association’s Ludlow […]
Curaçao wants to turn BuskaBaai into a new maritime-industrial cluster
Curaçao is positioning its maritime sector at the centre of a broader economic redevelopment strategy, with the Dok–BuskaBaai zone emerging as one of the island’s most ambitious industrial and logistics projects in years. Recent discussions highlighted in Caribbean Maritime Magazine show that the government, public-sector entities and private maritime stakeholders are now aligning around a […]
Biofuels emerge as the Caribbean’s most realistic maritime transition fuel
As pressure builds on the global shipping industry to reduce emissions, the Caribbean is approaching a critical phase in its own maritime energy transition. Cruise operators, cargo carriers and port authorities are all facing growing expectations around decarbonisation, yet the region’s operational realities leave little room for expensive or highly complex solutions. In that context, […]
Colombia positions itself for the next phase of maritime decarbonisation
Colombia is accelerating preparations for a lower-carbon maritime sector as authorities, industry stakeholders and international partners move into the next phase of planning around shipping emissions, port infrastructure and alternative fuels. Last week, Colombia’s maritime authority, Dirección General Marítima (DIMAR), convened a national workshop alongside the International Maritime Organization’s GreenVoyage2050 Programme and MTCC Latin America […]
Anguilla ’s tourism surge continues to rely heavily on maritime access
Anguilla closed 2025 with its strongest tourism performance in more than three decades, as visitor arrivals reached record levels across both stay-over and excursionist segments. But behind the headline growth figures, the latest data also highlights another structural reality of the island’s visitor economy: maritime connectivity remains the dominant gateway into the territory. According to […]
How the Panama Canal is climate-proofing global trade against the next El Niño cycle
For the global shipping industry, the drought disruptions that hit the Panama Canal in 2023–2024 exposed the growing vulnerability of critical maritime corridors to climate volatility. Now, as concerns emerge around a potential new El Niño cycle in the second half of 2026, the canal authority is signaling a different operational posture: anticipation instead of […]
Caribbean ports face a financing gap in the race to decarbonise
Across the Caribbean, maritime decarbonisation ambitions are becoming increasingly visible. Ports, governments and regional organisations are now actively discussing renewable energy integration, equipment electrification, emissions monitoring and low-carbon maritime infrastructure. Yet despite growing momentum, one structural challenge continues to slow implementation across many Small Island Developing States (SIDS): financing. That issue emerged repeatedly during the […]