November 8, 2016
Kingston will become one of the top transshipment platforms in the Caribbean.
Following the signature of the concession agreement for the Kingston container terminal on April 7, 2015, Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (the special purpose vehicle set up in Jamaica by Willkie client CMA-CGM) recently proceeded with the first drawdown under the loans made available to it by the Inter American Development Bank (through its agent the IIC), Proparco, DEG, FMO and private funders (CIBC First Caribbean, CIFI and Cordiant) for the purposes of financing the first phase of the Kingston terminal extension.
Kingston will become one of the top transshipment platforms in the Caribbean, located at the exit of the Panama canal to welcome vessels crossing the canal, which is being widened. The widening of the Panama Canal will allow up to 14,000 TEU-capacity vessels to cross the canal. The new Kingston hub, with its increased capacity, will provide transshipment services to those vessels.
In the context of the Kingston project, Willkie advised CMA-CGM and its subsidiary Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited on all aspects of the project, from the negotiation of the concession agreement to the finalization of the finance documents and construction contract (construction works having been awarded to a consortium composed of Vinci, Jan de Nul and EMCC).
The Willkie team was led by national partner Michaël Armandou and included partner Jeffrey Goldfarb; counsel Ajanaclair Lynch; and associates Emilie Patoux, Roy Charles Bates, Antoine Bouzanquet and Idama Al Saad.