Truckers demand a new boat

There is now an egg shortage in the sister isle because of major delays in getting trucks laden with goods onto the barge for transport to Tobago. The protesting truckers chanted, “we want a boat, not a barge” as they marched and waved placards.

Newsday was told that 3,000 crates of eggs were barred from being loaded onto the barge Atlantic Provider since it has not refrigerator facilities to keep the food item chilled during the journey. Being a barge, anything transported is exposed to the elements including the merciless sun which would cause the eggs to spoil rapidly. The temperature in Trinidad yesterday was a sweltering 35 degrees.

Head of the association Horace Amede yesterday said the protest action was “only the beginning.” He said that truck drivers and suppliers are feeling the effect of the poor transportation arrangements and soon, Tobagonians will also feel it via empty grocery shelves and empty hardwares.

“The hatch in the Provider is very hot so the temperature will cause items like eggs and cheese to spoil. Even livestock brokers who go to Tobago to buy sheep, goat and fowl have not been able to transport livestock across the seabridge. Everyone will feel the pinch of shortages in Togago,” Amede said.

President of the Public Services Association (PSA) and Minority Leader in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Watson Duke yesterday said Tobago is already reaping the ‘rewards’ of the current seabridge transportation arrangement via an increase in the price of goods.

He claimed that all food items in Tobago have gone up by ten cents.

“This may be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Duke warned.

“There is now an ominous feeling in Tobago...like the people are repressing a lot of anger.

Something is happening in Tobago where it feels like it is the quiet before a storm. We in Tobago have been taking blow after blow and this situation may just push us over the edge.”