Noel Thompson and Gareth Manning, Gleaner Reporters

With the country now at the peak of the festive season, the nation's ports of entry and exit are being put under pressure from an increase in travel and shipments to and from the island.

Both international airports were kept busy yesterday as visitors and returning residents poured into the island, creating chaos for airport officials in some instances.

Calls to our newsroom yesterday, indicated that a number of persons using the Norman Manley International Airport had to leave the airport without their baggage due to delays in arrival.

Traffic snarl

The newsroom made several attempts to contact officials at the airport, but up to press time no answer was forthcoming as to how it was managing the increased number of travellers.

Meanwhile, at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay yesterday, vehicular traffic came to a snarl in the vicinity of the airport, a situation, which was blamed on the increased number of people arriving in the island.

"It is nothing new. You will find it like that this time of year, because lots of people are travelling and everyone wants to get through customs and immigration simul-taneously. The main reason for this is due to arriving passengers checking in excess and overweight baggage from their port of embarkation," an official source at Air Jamaica said.

David Salloway, director of marketing at MBJ Airports Limited, which operates the airport, said there was an increase in passenger traffic, but noted that it was manageable.

"We are seeing extremely busy days at the airport from now onwards. We are also seeing an increase in business and larger aircraft coming in compared to the same period last year. What we have to monitor now is people checking in for departure. We are trying to ease customers into the airport, as people are anxious when traveling, especially at Christmas," he said.

The situation is likely to continue until mid January officials say. But some airlines such as American Airlines said it was taking proactive steps to manage the problem by reducing the number of luggage being checked in at ports of embarkation.

Personnel at Kingston Wharves have also been kept busy so far this season. The situation reached its peak yesterday, however, as crowds of impatient people turned up from early in the morning to have their goods cleared.

Speaking with The Gleaner, General Manager, Grantley Stephenson confirmed the situation at the wharf. He said warehouses have been bursting at the seam with goods for weeks because people have been slow o collect them although the company started extending its opening hours from as early as last week.

"We have been open since Saturday, but it's only this morning that we are seeing a crowd," he said.

"But we are okay. We are managing and people are getting through and people will get their goods before Christmas. I guess it's just the last minute mentality," he added.