Nigerian entrepreneur and Managing Director of Aquarian Consult, Mrs Aisha Maina, has secured a $40m investment backed by the African Export-Import Bank to develop a deep-water port in St Kitts as part of efforts to create a direct trade corridor between Africa and the Caribbean.
According to a statement, Maina, also the founder of Gemini Integrated Commodities, signed the agreement on July 28 in Grenada during the Afreximbank Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum, alongside the Government of St Kitts and Nevis and Afreximbank representatives.
“This port moves us from promise to throughput, from talk to tonnage. It is the physical backbone of a trade bridge that has been too long in the making,” she said at the signing ceremony.
Prime Minister of St Kitts & Nevis, Dr Terrance Drew, witnessed the deal, while Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, Samal Duggins, signed on behalf of the island nation. Duggins described the deal as a bold step in delivering transformation through tangible assets.
“Facility after facility, deal after deal, we are not just talking transformation; we are delivering it,” he said.
The deep-water port in Basseterre, with a Panamax berth, will anchor a 10-square-kilometre special economic zone dedicated to agro-processing, light assembly, and bonded warehousing. Feasibility and environmental studies for the project will begin in August, with financial close targeted for the first quarter of 2026. The first container is expected to dock by Q4 2028.
Maina said the new maritime corridor would cut Lagos-to-Basseterre shipping times to about seven days, eliminating costly European detours and providing faster market access for African producers.
“If the private sector does not take charge of the process, we will remain where we have been. Retreat or defeat are not options,” she told delegates at the Caribbean Investment Forum in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 30.
She also delivered the keynote address at the Trans-Atlantis Trade and Investment Symposium in Trinidad on August 3, stressing the importance of connecting port infrastructure, economic zones, and financing instruments to tackle youth unemployment, ensure food security, and drive export diversification.
According to project details, the port will create 600 direct construction jobs and is projected to attract an additional $300m in private investment. For St Kitts & Nevis, a country of fewer than 60,000 people, the project is expected to transform the federation into a logistics hub linking 19 African and 12 Caribbean Commonwealth nations.
The new facility will also serve as a value-addition hub, allowing African raw materials to be processed closer to North American markets, thereby enhancing regional supply chains.
The initiative builds on momentum from the Afri-Caribbean Investment Summit held in Abuja in March and a June trade mission that saw an Air Peace Boeing 777 ferry over 120 Nigerian entrepreneurs and policymakers to Basseterre.
With Gemini Integrated Commodities co-investing alongside Afreximbank, Maina’s effort places execution risk on the private sector, demonstrating a shift from policy-driven projects to commercially led infrastructure delivery.
