TTMA WARNS OF RISING COST OF LIVING

The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturing Association said yesterday that the cost of shipping and freight has skyrocketed as miscellaneous shipping charges are being imposed on them, and warned customers to expect rising prices. Bunker surcharges, general rate increases, local administration charges and port congestion charges are just a few that have been raised in the last six months, the TTMA said in a statement. In the last six months alone, the TTMA said an analysis of the effects of these charges on a basic food item, such as split peas, indicates that there was a six cents increase per pound on freight alone.

Last year, the Hauliers’ Association raised its rates by more than 50 percent to importers and exporters.  For the second time within the last 12 months, the TTMA said hauliers  will impose a new fee structure next week and cited the port’s inefficiencies  and the long delays at the Container Examination Station as reasons for doing so. These additional charges will translate into approximately $1,850 per container for a two-day period. This will add an additional five cents to each pound. That is an increase of 11 cents per pound on split peas for freight and transport charges alone.

“The shipping lines, shipping agents and the hauliers simply pass their costs along to the importers. The manufacturers of this country are forced to bear the brunt of these costs incurred by the gross inefficiencies at the Port and the Customs and Excise Division, neither of which is within our control,” the TTMA said. “Thousands of hours of productive time are wasted due to delays at the Port, Container Examination Station and Customs and Excise Division.  Millions of dollars are lost by importers and exporters in customs’ overtime, rising shipping costs, port congestion fees, demurrage fees, terminal handling charges, unreliable sailing schedules, increases by the hauliers, loss of export orders and decreasing competitiveness.

On the port’s operations and Custom’s and Excise Divison, the TTMA said it has exhausted every avenue available to it to highlight their  inefficiencies and their impact on this country’s trade. “Our nation’s competitiveness and productivity are spiraling downwards at an unprecedented rate. It is inevitable that the consumers will begin to feel the pinch in their everyday lives, as manufacturers go out of business, unemployment rises, and the cost of basic food items increase,” the statement concluded.