KINGSTON Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) is making additional investments this holiday season to ensure Jamaicans receive their Christmas items on time.

Speaking during a tour of the port on Friday, chief operating officer (COO) at KFTL, Carlos Cabrera said the company is spending more on labour in particular to ensure there’s no backlog.

“We have extended the hours until the 23rd for all the holiday period to get some of the backlog that was created with the new process that Customs implemented. The situation has been under control now and we have been able to reduce the backlog by over 60 per cent — and we expect by Tuesday of next week to have no backlog. Inspection process should take one day waiting time,” Cabrera stated.

He said there was a noticeable backlog on the port following heightened inspections from the Jamaica Customs Agency which lengthened the wait time for many clients.

“The inspection was intensified, and it wasn’t only here; we were having it at the airports and our neighbours were having issues as well,” he informed.

With that in mind, he said, “We’ve invested 30 per cent more labour, we’re adding 25 per cent more operational hours, so a lot of effort is going into everyone having their Christmas products before Christmas.”

Chief executive officer (CEO) of KFTL Jedrzej Mierzewski disclosed that the investment to improve efficiency is a cost being borne by KFTL right now, noting that keeping his clients happy is a major priority this Yuletide season.

“The port has to function smoothly, otherwise we all have a problem. So, from time to time we have to spend more,” Mierzewski stated.

Cabrera said delaying the improvements would also mean delaying the goods many Jamaicans look forward to having over the Christmas holiday.

“We’re talking about Christmas products. If we sit down right now and discuss who’s gonna pay for it we’re gonna get them out in February, and that’s not good,” he said.

To that end he revealed that productivity is already trending in the right direction. “We inspect, on average, 30-40 containers per day. Yesterday we did about 65 containers — way above our average — because we want to finish this backlog.”

In the meantime he argues that local importers are not collecting their containers in a timely manner, which is reducing well-needed space on the port for other business.

“What we have done is add more and more appointments for them to be available, adding more and more resources to the operation. We’ve been discussing that there’s not enough containers going out, and that continues to happen. So even though we have gotten to a point where we have 400 appointments available in the last two weeks, I’m worried now because the amount of imports going out has reduced,” Cabrera explained.

Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) John Mahfood said there might be a deeper issue which importers should address urgently.

“What I heard them saying is that the local importers are not taking off their containers and they are going to have 6000 containers stored here taking up space, which is an indication that maybe our importers have bought too much goods — and that is a concern I think for companies financially because it means that they are tying up a lot of money. But, one hopes that early next year a lot of this congestion will have eased up and we’ll see it back to normal,” Mahfood said.