- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 16/Aug 02:52

Port needs paradigm shift

PROBLEMS at our ports are not new. But the protracted delays now being experienced by Port of Spain booksellers, business leaders and other traders bring into sharp focus the need for the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration to adopt a completely different approach from its predecessor if these problems are to be addressed. We cannot have more of the same. The system is broken. Plagued with maladies are all levels of that system. Workers are demoralised. The PNM’s decision to reverse a 12 per cent salary hike pushed through under Ms Persad-Bissessar’s first term did not create that problem. But it certainly worsened it. Trade unionist Michael Annisette on August 14 launched a fiery defence of dockworkers, telling this newspaper they function within a dysfunctional paradigm. Mr Annisette’s passionate advocacy has blinded him to the fact that a bit of that dysfunction may well originate in the workers themselves. But there is still truth in his assertion. Poorly thought out are some of the rudimentary aspects of customs flows. For instance, booksellers have experienced completely preventable delays at bonds because of scanner breakdowns. As noted by Vivek Charran, director of Charran’s bookstore, “The directives that dictate how the goods are supposed to be examined don’t take into account what happens if one part of the system is not working.” Lack of contingency planning generates disruption. Disruption generates backlog and therefore more disruption. And on and on. Outdated equipment, a lack of substantial investment, software problems, archaic practices, understaffing, time-consuming valuations – all worsen the morass of difficulties. For the last three years, the Port Authority has been funded to the tune of just $3 million per year. Separately, $120 million a year has been spent on personnel at Customs and Excise, with no significant shift. That is likely because the last government’s policy was to pursue the reformation of port operations into a public-private arrangement. On paper, this might have opened the floodgates for greater capital investment. In reality, it simply allowed the state to kick the can down the road and subjected government to the murky whims of investors, even with the backing of entities like the Inter-American Development Bank. Despite the problems, use of the port in the capital city has increased. A total of 289,121 containers were processed in 2022, 317,322 in 2023 and 324,575 in 2024. More traders are willing to subject themselves to the never-ending travails. This reflects a global surge in trade; tax revenues from imports now stand at about $3 billion per year. But it also reflects the fact that the inefficiencies, if they persist, will strangle the country’s economic growth. The UNC should reallocate funds meant for the TTRA into boosting port operations. The post Port needs paradigm shift appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.