On a Caribbean morning, the humid air is filled with the scent of sea breeze. A truck convoy drove into Phoenix Industrial Park in Trinidad and Tobago, and the staff operated forklifts in an orderly manner to shuttle back and forth, loading boxes of production raw materials onto the vehicles.
Kelvin Bipas stood next to the loading and unloading platform, looking at the gradually stacked goods and said to reporters, “These raw materials will soon be put into production and transformed into bottles of beverages to be sent around the world
Bipas is the manager of the raw materials department at SMJ Beverage Company. This beverage manufacturer, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, was founded in 1924 and has a history of over a hundred years. It is one of the oldest and largest beverage production enterprises in the Caribbean region, with more than ten brands under its umbrella and products exported to dozens of countries and regions.
Our goal is to build an international brand, and Phoenix Industrial Park provides us with a perfect platform to take this step, “said Bipas.
The Phoenix Industrial Park, contracted by the Chinese enterprise Beijing Construction Engineering Group, is the flagship project of the “the Belt and Road” cooperation between China and Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the Cape Lissas Port, the second largest port in Trinidad and Tobago. It was completed in July 2023, covering an area of about 580000 square meters. At present, 26 enterprises, including 8 Chinese enterprises, have settled in the park, with an overall settlement rate of 98%.
In the central area of Phoenix Industrial Park, five modern standard factory buildings constructed by Beijing Construction Engineering Group have been erected. Bipas explained that SMJ has rented two of the buildings as raw material warehouses to store essential beverage production items such as resin, preforms, and sugar.
Like many companies that choose to settle in Phoenix Industrial Park, Bipas said that the most critical factors for SMJ company to choose to settle in Phoenix Industrial Park are its geographical location and modern infrastructure. Every day, transport trucks depart from the park to transport raw materials to factories located in the central part of Trinidad Island, which only takes half an hour by car.
This place is close to highways and ports, and logistics transportation is very efficient. For manufacturing companies, time is efficiency, “said Bipas.
In addition to its location advantage, the specialized design of infrastructure in the park constructed by the Chinese side has also won praise from enterprises. In addition to basic supporting facilities such as water and electricity, the loading and unloading ramps and loading and unloading platforms here greatly improve logistics turnover efficiency, reduce the time cost and loss risk of container loading and unloading, “said Bipas.
The reporter saw on site that the two warehouses rented by SMJ company had dense stacking of production raw materials but clear zoning, and the on-site operations were orderly.
In the warehouse, dozens of tons of PET resin raw materials for bottles from Jiangsu, China are neatly stacked. These resins will be used for blowing beverage bottles. The stable product quality and mature transportation channels in China are very important for our global supply chain, “said Bipas.
As one of the first economic special zones planned and constructed in Trinidad and Tobago, Phoenix Industrial Park is positioned as a high value-added environmental protection light industry park, focusing on industrial clusters such as light industry, green building materials, food and beverage, and warehousing and logistics, which is in line with the development strategy of the Trinidad and Tobago government to promote economic diversification and get rid of oil and gas dependence. After obtaining the enterprise certification of the special economic zone, settled enterprises will enjoy more favorable industrial and tax policies.
The favorable policies have further enhanced SMJ Company’s confidence in the future development of the industrial park. Bipas stated that the company plans to build a new beverage production line in the park around August this year, extending from warehousing to manufacturing and upgrading the industrial chain. At present, the project has entered the preliminary preparation stage, and in the future we will produce some bottled beverages here
The Phoenix Industrial Park is a new starting point for our dreams and a place to nurture new possibilities. In the future, we hope to start from here and send beverages manufactured by Tedo to more countries and regions, “said Bipas.