Tighter security at PoS port

Addressing a workshop at the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago’s (PATT) Port-of-Spain headquarters last week, Imbert said electronic scanners would be purchased for the port and would be deployed at its container examination station (CES) and west gate operations.

In addition to the security component, in line with TT’s international commitments to the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code to which this country became a signatory in July 2004, Imbert said the scanners "should significantly reduce the number of containers that are sent to the CES thus reducing delivery time." TT Manufacturers Association president Paul Quesnel has identified delays at the CES as one of the longstanding headaches for local manufacturers at the port.

Imbert said security on the domestic seabridge would be upgraded with the introduction of three baggage scanners and two closed circuit TV systems at the Government Shipping Service (GSS) terminals in Port-of-Spain and Scarborough. He further indicated that an upgraded ferry terminal facility, capable of accommodating up to 1,000 passengers, would be built in Port-of-Spain along with an additional berth at the port (to accommodate two vessels) by year’s end.

Last week, Imbert announced that Government plans to build a $1.5 billion port on lands south of National Petroleum’s South Quay headquarters within the next three years and a full statement on the new port would be made in Parliament in September. The minister said once the port is relocated, the lands it currently occupies would be used for other developmental works such as part of the $15 billion train-based mass transit system which Government plans to establish in TT.