Hauliers not holding country ransom
The Editor: Hauliers are not trying in any way to hold anybody to ransom, they are working as usual at the port of Pt Lisas, providing a full range of services to the local business community from there. They are also still taking empty containers from the port (Port-of-Spain) to exporters to be loaded, and returning them to the port for export. They are not loading full imported containers from Port-of-Spain because the government agency (the port), is taking upwards of five hours to load a container onto the hauliers’ equipment to be delivered to importers. This service is the same one that is supposed to take (according to Mr Garcia) one and a half hours. What I would like to know is why it is alright for a government agency to give substandard service to the taxpaying public and ask the same public to foot any additional costs incurred. Mr Imbert’s idea of in some way prosecuting with the law, the hauliers show that he has forgotten his oath of office. Has he forgotten that he swore to uphold the constitution? The hauliers are not classified as an essential service, therefore how is he going to make them work? Was forced labour made legal in Trinidad, and if so when was this law passed? His reflex plan of the Port Authority buying trucks is, to say the least, ludicrous. The port has a problem keeping the equipment they have working, last week they sent out a notice saying that as many as six of the cranes that are used to load trucks were out of service, this surely shows that they have never heard about preventive maintenance. Should we now give them more equipment in the form of trucks, or should we ask them to show that they can at least take care of what they have? To deal with the "zacaat" that he accuses the hauliers of imposing on the lilly white government agency (a sacred cow?), is it reasonable to expect a group of private citizens to foot the bill for the continued mismanagement of the country’s resources? Nothing is done when importers are made to pay to shipping agents a congestion surcharge because the port takes too long to turn around vessels causing the shipping agents to pay more charges.Please Mr Imbert get real, spend money on repairing the equipment, make management responsible for efficiency, and demand a high level of the same. Nicholas Rostant San Juan
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"Hauliers not holding country ransom"