Valley appoints team to deal with ports

PROBLEMS affecting the ports in Trinidad and Tobago are now being tackled by a special team appointed by Minister of Trade and Industry, Kenneth Valley. This trouble-shooting team has been mandated to identify challenges faced by the ports, with the aim of resolving such challenges, so that the transhipment area can be expanded. The team is expected to examine the challenges and make recommendations to address them.

The team is also to explore the possibility of making Trinidad and Tobago a transhipment hub for the Caribbean. To this end, interviews and site visits are being conducted with the main stakeholders in the industry. The team is seeking information to get a good understanding of the status and needs of the industry. Recently, a Port-of-Spain businessmen alleged that ships by-passed the ports at Port-of-Spain and Point Lisas because of storage problems, heading for Brazil instead. The team met with the Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU) yesterday at its Wrightson Road headquarters.