UPDATE: Trailer drivers back on the job at Kingston Port
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Trailer drivers who withdrew their service on Wednesday at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) to register their frustration with poor working conditions are now back on the job.
The drivers resumed their normal duties on Wednesday afternoon following a meeting between stakeholders from the Port Trailers Haulage Association Limited, which represents the drivers, Kingston Freeport Terminal and the Port Authority of Jamaica.
“The truckers are back to work. They resumed their services yesterday afternoon, and we extended gate operations to facilitate those who were impacted by the disruption yesterday. So we’re going to have extended hours. We had extended hours yesterday, and we will continue that straight through to Saturday,” shared Trudy Belnavis, public relations manager for KFTL.
KFTL said this extension is to best serve trucking and logistics stakeholders through enhanced logistics flow and service delivery to customers.
She noted that following the meeting, the stakeholders have agreed on some solutions to respond to the complaint of the drivers.
“We had a meeting [on] the issues that the truckers are complaining about regarding the entire port, so it’s not just KFDL; it’s customs, etc. So we had to have a meeting with all those stakeholders because it’s a partnership here on the port, and we don’t control every aspect of the process. So we had a meeting with everyone, and some solutions were agreed on that each stakeholder will implement, and then we’re going to see how that goes,” Belnavis said.
Some concerns raised by the drivers were the long wait times for loading cargo, which they noted cost them financially; alleged poor communication from the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) representatives; and chaos at the vetting window, where they have to enter information for their containers and process their papers in order to exit the queue.
“The issues are that they want to move faster. They want to be able to do a quicker time and collect the containers more quickly so they can complete more moves within a day. But as I explained, that is not dependent on one entity. Different entities have managed different processes at the port. So we all have to work together to figure that out so that we can serve our customers better,” Belnavis noted.
READ: Trailer drivers protest working conditions at Kingston port
