Transport

As the largest exporter in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago’s transport network is vital to the performance of its economy. The country is already a fast-growing air passenger and cargo hub in the southern Caribbean and is now looking to spur growth in the maritime sector, where it intends to take advantage of its sheltered location below the hurricane belt and its proximity to shipping lanes serving North, Central and South America. The transport sector has not, however, been immune to the ramifications of the country’s current economic downturn. According to the Central Bank of T&T, the country’s GDP contracted by 2.1% in 2015 on the back of lower oil and gas prices. With public revenues significantly reduced as a result, the government was forced to abandon plans for a multi-billion-dollar mass transit project and to announce the phasing out of the long-standing subsidization of super gasoline and diesel.

This chapter contains an interview with Ashley Taylor, President, Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation (PLIPDECO).