John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
THE KINGSTON port continues to be affected by an unacceptable number of unclaimed containers imported into island, sparking fears that a repeat of serious congestion at the facility could occur during the busy Christmas season.
Karen Clarke-Rigg, client services manager at the APM Terminals explained that "due to the fact that they have these containers sitting there for an extended period, what we find is that the space is used up and containers that should have moved from the south terminal to the north terminal cannot come out."
Mrs. Clarke-Rigg said this results in confusion and long delays when complying customers come to clear their shipments. "So if they don't free up those slots so that we can keep taking over those containers from the south terminal we are going to end up with the same problems as last year where customers arrive at the terminal and they can't pickup those containers," she said. The APM manager said more than 3,000 containers were lying idly on the port at the moment.
DELINQUENT COMPANIES
In an effort to have the containers cleared to prevent congestion, APM Terminals and the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) on Sunday published a list of 32 delinquent companies which have containers on the port for more than 30 days. Some companies had more than 29 containers sitting on the port for more than a month. Edwards Jamaica had in excess of 30 unclaimed containers, followed by Estac Industrial Agencies with 29, Mainland International with 19 and New Era Tiles and Finishes and Red Stripe with 18 each.
Noel Hylton, president of the PAJ said yesterday that most companies were complying, but "we don't want the same thing to happen (the congestion last Christmas) so I have told them to call every single company that has containers more than three days on the port to move them." He emphasised that "the port is for trans-shipment not storage and we try to tell people that all the time that we don't store stuff."
When Earl Crooks, the manager of Estac Industrial Agencies was contacted yesterday, he said he was aware of the notice, but was investigating and would not comment until then.
In citing reasons for the level of delinquency among businesses, Mrs. Clarke-Rigg said "what I have found out is that it is either that they have not cleared up payments with the shipper, the contents of containers were being resold (while on the port) and the terminals are a cheaper means of storage so they don't want to set up places to have the containers stored.
Operations at the Kingston port, the island's major trans-shipment point, were severely disrupted during and after the busy Christmas season last year, the result of a severe congestion problem caused a large stack of uncollected containers. Many companies complained of experiencing shortfalls in goods and supplies because they were unable to clear containers from the ports. Shipping lines subsequently imposed a surcharge on importers after they were forced to divert from the Kingston port to other ports in the region.
