Frustration is mounting among truckers and haulage contractors at the Port of Kingston over excessive delays in container delivery, which the drivers say is causing loss in earnings, additional costs, and distress to their clients.

The truckers last week took their plight to the press, complaining that it is taking up to four hours to complete a routine container delivery that would usually take a little over half-an-hour.

The Port Trailer Haulage Association (PTHA) has blamed the situation, which it says is worsening and “appears to have no end in sight”, on frequent breakdown of equipment such as scanning machines; the Customs Agency’s much-touted ASYCUDA documentation system; and a deficiency in manpower at the ports to do the job.

General manager for the PTHA Ricardo Valentine told the Jamaica Observer that the challenges are not new. “We have been having them for long periods of time now… it’s very frustrating because they (drivers) are paid based on the amount of moves they make and oftentimes based on the challenges on the port they can only make one move in one day. If a trucker has six containers to move, for him to guarantee trying to move those six containers he has to use six truck heads. What you want to do is put in one or two trucks to do that, not six trucks, so essentially you’re operating at a loss,” he explained.

He said oftentimes clients are unwilling to pay demurrage because of uncertainty about the cause of the delay. “We cannot continue to operate in a system that is uneconomical to us. It is at a point now where something needs to be done quickly,” Valentine lamented.

He noted that on Monday some of the drivers, out of frustration, had parked their units but that swift intervention from Customs, the association and the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL), the new operators of the port, had reversed that action.

He said the association is seeking to broaden the discussion to include the policy makers at Customs and at the terminal in order to resolve the issues, instead of taking any hardline position.

He said on some days the turnaround time is close to normal, but “it’s been a very long time since we have achieved that”. Valentine said that the association has had several meetings with KFTL regarding insufficient equipment, especially when there is a ship in port. “They don’t have enough equipment to service both the domestic side and the ship side, so oftentimes it’s the domestic side that suffers,” he said.

Valentine noted also that ASYCUDA was still in its teething stage and contributes to delays. “It affects all of us as port users. We are all aware that it is a system that should make it much easier (but) it’s still in the embryonic stage where people are still getting familiar with using it.”

He said also that especially at this time of year, the port is unable to manage the increased volumes, as such, more scanning machines are needed.

Leo Nesbeth, manager for marketing and communications at KFTL, which took over the operations at the port in July, explained that while it may appear that any breakdown in systems and processes at the port is the fault of the operator, this is not so.

“We are facilitators, to a large extent, so while we do our part, we have to rely on how the other people execute their part in the chain… we believe a lot of the reactions will happen to us mainly because we are the landlords, so a difficulty on the terminal is going to be presented as a difficulty on the port,” he pointed out.

Nesbeth said this Christmas season has been the busiest for the port in five years. “We are making a number of changes to meet the demands of our customers. We have had some IT interruptions (and) others who provide services on the terminal have also been impacted by a breakdown with their own systems. All of these things exist on the grounds of the terminal, so people are going to say we are having problems at the port, they are not going to delineate it. All of these things together add up to have an impact on the turnaround time on the terminal sometimes,” Nesbeth emphasised.

However, he said KFTL is mindful of some of the challenges and has, for example, extended its opening time to 12 hours. Nesbeth also pointed out that the infrastructure works being carried out along Marcus Garvey Drive are contributing to the delays. “It’s a whole series of things that are coming together. Increased volume, the road situation, and all the service providers on the terminal having various challenges at various times.” He said KFTL remains in dialogue with the PTHA, Customs, and other stakeholders.

KFTL, a subsidiary of global terminal operators CMA CGM Group, signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Government to finance, expand, operate, and maintain the port.