International maritime experts are contending that Jamaica stands to benefit significantly if it takes the initiative to invest in the bunkering of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Senior consultant at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Felton Gilmore, pitching the idea to a number of key players in the private and public sectors, said this week that the chances of Jamaica benefiting significantly from this process of fuelling ships would increase with the widening of the Panama Canal.

"Where you are set logistically, Jamaica is on the highway between the Panama Canal and certain spaces in the United States. This might be the place to set up a bunker facility," Gilmore said.

"You can use it here to produce kilowatt energy, and you can use it to sell into an open market because if there are very few distribution points, the rates are going to be driven up, and that's where you are going to benefit. You have an opportunity now as a nation to take the bite out of this market and do pretty well for the next 25 years," he said.

Gilmore was addressing the IMO's national seminar on the feasibility of LNG bunkering, held at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston this week.

Eric Dawicki, president and CEO of Northeast Maritime Institute, while also agreeing that Jamaica could benefit significantly, said that he was not convinced the island and other "international bodies of nations" were doing enough to meet the 2016 deadline to have LNG become the preferred fuel source.

Rear Admiral Peter Brady, director general of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, urged those in attendance at the conference to continue the dialogue to see how best the country could make use of the opportunities that are to come with the widening of the Panama Canal.

"Let us be prepared. Let us talk to our superiors, and let us spread the word. Jamaica has to go LNG, and we have to get serious about LNG. It is coming," Brady said.