TTMA slams shipping body over excessive charges

The local Manufacturers Association (TTMA) yesterday voiced outrage over what it desrcibed as the imposition of “arbitrary charges” by “agents of the Shipping Association” on all shipments, whether imported, or for export. THE TTMA, in a statement, said one of its members estimates that there are 17 agents of the Shipping Association who stand to share some $47 million in additional revenue from the local administrative charges fixed by local agents. “This will result in substantial increases in the cost of basic commodities to consumers,” said the statement. These charges are applied to both exports and imports, and will result in significant price increases to consumers, the TTMA said. “They drive up the cost of raw materials and have a severely negative effect on the competitiveness of all regionally produced products,” the TTMA statement said.

It added, “In the economy of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean, such increases will ricochet adversely through the system, increasing prices with the worst effects on those least able to support rising costs for basic commodities. Within the last six months, the TTMA said that the Local Administrative Charge (LAC) was implemented: $126 TT +VAT per import container and $157 TT +VAT per export Bill of Lading Terminal Handling Charge (THC) or Destination Handling Charges are charged by individual lines and range anywhere from $350 TT to $945 per shipment for imports, said the TTMA. General Rate Increase (GRI)), the TTMS said, was also announced in September, 2003, by the Caribbean Shipowners’ Association (CSA), noting that this applies to all inter-Caribbean shipments to and from Trinidad, as well as all northbound and southbound traffic with North America. The TTMA argued that the imposition of this charge amounts to “anti-competitive conduct” and offends the spirit and intent of the Chaguaramas Treaty. The unilateral fixing of prices, said the statement, “can have the  effect of monopolising the market.”