Since the 1990s the Jamaican government has been working with private enterprise to improve the nation’s roads, including building a series of freeways between Kingston and Mandeville.
Jamaica was the first country in the western hemisphere to build a railway network, but now this has fallen into relative decline. Hardly any of the network remains as a passenger system, but instead is privately owned and used to transport bauxite.
Jamaica has two international airports, one in Kingston and the other at Montego Bay. Both are home to the national carrier Air Jamaica. Ocho Rios is served by the Ian Fleming Airport (named after the James Bond author who built his home there), and other regions, especially the sugar growing areas are served by smaller, unpaved airports.
Kingston is an important container port because of its strategic position on the Panama Canal route. Ports are also vital for the export of alumina, bauxite and bananas.
