Antigua and Barbuda is moving forward with an ambitious infrastructure overhaul of the St. John’s Port, a project that will reshape the country’s maritime landscape and boost its standing as a leading regional transshipment and logistics hub, Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced over the weekend. Speaking during his regular broadcast on Pointe FM Saturday, Browne outlined the centerpiece of the expansion initiative: the complete removal of nearby Rat Island, where excavated material will be repurposed for large-scale land reclamation to accommodate the port’s growing footprint.
The core driver behind the expansion is a pressing shortage of container storage capacity that has limited the country’s ability to handle rising cargo volumes, Browne explained. While construction teams have already successfully reclaimed approximately nine acres of land along the port’s northern edge, the prime minister emphasized that this is far from enough to meet projected long-term growth in regional maritime trade. “Rat Island that we intend to cut down to create more land. And by so doing, we will have more space for container storage. I understand now we don’t have enough space,” Browne told listeners during the broadcast. Beyond the material sourced from Rat Island, the government plans to pursue additional land reclamation in adjacent coastal areas to support successive phases of the port’s expansion.
Browne added that the upgraded port facility will cement Antigua and Barbuda’s strategic position in Caribbean trade routes. The country already acts as a key transshipment stop for cargo traveling from Panama through the Dominican Republic en route to final distribution across smaller Eastern Caribbean island nations. The expansion project is designed to build on this existing role, turning the country into a full-fledged regional logistics center that can attract new shipping lines, logistics firms and maritime business that have historically bypassed the region for larger hubs.
In a key update on the project’s progress, the prime minister disclosed that the Antiguan government is currently in advanced discussions with a major United States-based firm that is poised to serve as the anchor tenant and primary operator of the expanded transshipment terminal. A larger, more modern port will not only boost cargo handling capacity but also improve consumer access to imported goods across Antigua and Barbuda, while opening new avenues for trade diversification by strengthening economic ties with markets across the Dominican Republic, Central America and South America, he noted.
The St. John’s Port expansion is just the latest phase of a broader waterfront revitalization effort already underway in the country’s capital. Browne pointed to previous successful reclamation projects that have transformed once-blighted areas of the waterfront previously occupied by abandoned, derelict barges. Completed and ongoing projects in the area include the development of the new Global Ports cruise terminal, a major infrastructure investment that is already boosting the country’s tourism and cruise shipping sectors.