TTMA HITS PORT DELAYS

While we can do very little about imported inflation, can do something about the delays at our Port and Customs and Excise  which continue to add to the already high cost of living as well as make locally produced goods less competitive in the regional and international market place. The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) has pointed both to the negative impact on the country’s cost of living and exports through the addition of millions of dollars to importers and exporters in Customs overtime, port congestion fees, increasing shipping costs, terminal handling charges, unreliable sailing schedules, demurrage charges and increases by truck transport operators. All of these have contributed to a loss of export orders as well as the passing on of additional freight landing costs to the consumers.

Key inputs with respect to delays whether of landed or exported goods and, ultimately, to the imposing of punitive charges by shipowners/operators because of local negatives which prevented the loading and/or offloading of their vessels within worked out schedules, have long been the lack of efficiency of both the Port and Customs. It is an inefficiency which should never have been tolerated, and today with the challenges posed by rapidly expanding exports of China, has seen a contraction of potential markets for small manufacturers. At the same time, goods, including materials and foods which are not produced here or within the Region, and whose costs have been affected adversely by the sharp rise in crude prices are being imported at continually increasing costs leading to needless rises in the cost of living.

Overseas manufacturers and food producers have seen an increase in their production costs as a result in the rise in oil prices. And while, admittedly, our  State revenues have benefited from high crude prices there has been a negative impact, nonetheless, on the country’s cost of living. It is bad when any rise in Trinidad and Tobago’s cost of living is the result of factors over which the country has no control. It is far worse, however, when domestic factors which can impact and have impacted negatively on the cost of living continue to remain unaddressed. And although the addressing of these problems will not result in a major drop in the cost of living, nevertheless every bit helps.

It is regrettable that the TTMA should have had to point out that it had exhausted every avenue available to it to highlight the inefficiencies of port operations and of the Customs and Excise Division and their (negative) impact on the country’s trade. “Our nation’s competitiveness and productivity are spiralling downwards at an unprecedented rate,” the TTMA cautioned. “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.” Now that the TTMA has spoken out forcefully against the cavalier attitude of the Port and Customs and Excise and the damaging effect this has had and continues to have on the cost of living, and its potential for triggering rises in unemployment, hopefully the relevant authorities will act. To delay any further will only make worse an already vexing situation.