Businesses crippled by the implementation of Government’s new computerised customs management system have reportedly been promised tremendous improvements in its efficiency by the end of the week.
But as the holiday season draws nearer, one well-known businessman has warned that failure to achieve the promised corrections could result in tremendous losses for local commerce.
Former President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Managing Director of Abed and Co. Ltd, Eddy Abed told Barbados TODAY today that recent discussions with key government officials late last week were very fruitful and businesses were assured key kinks were being ironed out.
However, Abed fears stock backed up in the Bridgetown Port along with associated storage and demurrage fees could cause hardship if the situation does not return to normal by the middle of October.
“As would be expected, we had slow deliveries meaning that some items may not have been on the shelves as soon as they should have been. Obviously there were instances where importers like myself experienced larger than normal storage charges because the process took so much longer to clear and I think the other issue is the backlog of cargo still in the port that needs to make its way through,” Abed told Barbados TODAY.
“I don’t need to restate the obvious about the peak season and Christmas imports and so on. Anything that impacts on that will have extremely negative results in terms of companies trading through the very important season and of course building enough ‘fat’ in this season to take us through the ‘lean’ season and throughout the rest of the year.”
Customs and the Port Authority have decided to waive most of the fees associated with storage, but importers are being asked to pay as much as $150 a day to private companies which act on behalf of cargo vessels. In such instances, contrary to promises by Government, each local business would have to navigate the fees on their own.
“I do know that each importer is having a conversation with the company that charges demurrage and will deal with it on its own merit,” said Abed.
In mid September, recently appointed Comptroller of Customs, Owen Holder promised “teething” issues at the port would be handled within a week and Chairman of the Barbados Port Inc, Senator Lisa Cummins promised Government would engage with shipping lines to discuss the question of demurrage charges.
A month later, Abed indicated his business was experiencing “some traction” with the Asycuda World system, though not all of the problems initially experienced are behind them.
Based on assurances made, he said: “Later this week, all the manual transactions involving bond entries will be eliminated and the system should be handling that in its entirety.
“Working through the backlog has been one of the largest problems and while we are working through it, there will be storage charges and demurrage charges. The faster we get back to normalcy, the better for all,” Abed added.
Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Trisha Tannis meanwhile told Barbados TODAY she could not yet provide an update on the new system. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
