NEWS & NOTES: Red Stripe creates history + CMU can rank among ‘world’s best’ + Why Jamaica needs more engineers

LEADING THE PACK: The forward-thinking team at Red Stripe might have a Trailblazer Award in their future. On October 5, the corporate giants became the first private Jamaican company to go LNG, having invested millions in a combined heat and power plant (CHP), costing upwards of US$400,000, which is now fully operational. “We’re very excited about this. It’s part of our sustainability agenda. Natural gas provides a cleaner burning fuel, more efficient, more reliable, and it’s far easier for our operations. And we’re building this as an industry in Jamaica to make it more appealing,” reports Diane Ashton-Smith, Head of Corporate Affairs at Red Stripe. “We want to see more companies come on board. We also call for incentives on duties for equipment that use LNG. As simplistic as it might sound, it augurs well for all of us to join the journey.” 

STEPPING UP: Now that the long-serving Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) has been formally re-introduced as the Caribbean Maritime University, what is it poised to achieve? For PM Andrew Holness, the outlook has to be increasingly global. “I am confident that the CMU will continue not only to be Jamaica’s and the Caribbean’s leading source of talents and ideas in the areas of logistics and maritime technology,” he says, “but will also be seen as one of the world’s best institutions for maritime training and therefore a great export product.” Next to Mico, the CMU has become the latest tertiary institution in Jamaica to make the leap to university status.

FILLING THE GAPS: “The country needs to graduate at least 1000 engineers per year.” So says Dr. Paul Aiken, Director of the UWI Mona School of Engineering, who believes Jamaica has been losing out on valuable opportunities due to the shortage. “There have been many lost opportunities because the workforce isn’t there. So we are training them not just for Jamaica but to work globally,” Dr. Aiken says. “Our engineers must be able to go anywhere and compete with a Mr. or Miss Ivy League, and they will perform.” Aiken, who is also a Deputy Dean at Mona, was among the speakers giving informative power-point presentations at the recent Jamaica Natural Gas Conference in Kingston.

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