By Erica James-King, Staff Reporter
This lady (sitting on the blue barrel) is among the hundreds of persons from all over western Jamaica who have been making the daily trek down to the Montego Bay Freeport to collect their containers of goodies from their relatives overseas. - Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH THE Christmas rush now on in earnest, the management of the Montego Bay Freeport Wharf is expressing much confidence in the facility's ability to cope adequately with the processing and delivery of the extra cargo coming in at this time of the year.
In response to The Gleaner's queries in regards to efficient stripping, warehousing and distribution of cargo from the port's cargo terminal, Tony Bowen, manager at the port, has stated that there has been a 20 per cent increase in port handlers over the past three weeks and that additional equipment had been brought in to handle the Christmas rush.
"We are dealing fairly well with the Christmas traffic. It's not the best of times, but it's a great improvement over the situation that prevailed at the port last year," Bowen said. "We have placed five extra attendants in the warehouse to speed up the processing of cargo."
In addition to the extra manpower, the port manager also stated that two additional forklifts have been hired to facilitate the speedier transport of cargo from containers to the warehouse. The forklifts are also used to transport cargo from one end of the warehouse to another.
The hireage of the two additional forklifts, which is expected to cost between $150,000-$200,000 for a two-month period, complements the port's original fleet of two functioning forklifts. The additional forklifts were brought in at the start of December.
Other features introduced to ensure the smooth handling of the increased cargo traffic includes doing business during the traditional lunch break and processing cargo until as late as 9:30 p.m.
"We know that there is room for improvement but we are doing our best to ensure that customers are satisfied this holiday season," said Mr. Bowen, whose action is in keeping with the tradition of increasing the staff complement at the port during the Christmas season.
Prior to the Christmas season, the Montego Bay Port was handling an average of 150 clients per day, but that figure has jumped to 275 since the start of the Christmas season. Last Monday, the frenzy at the port hit an all-time high with 375 importers utilising its cargo services.
The improved business at the port comes on the heels of recent complaints from the Custom Brokers Association of Jamaica and shipping agents that there are undue delays in processing cargo at the port because of forklift problems and inadequate warehousing space.
Within recent years, there has been a steady increase in business at the port. Last year, there was an 11.4 per cent increase in business with cargo weight moving from 608,962 metric tonnes in 2000 to 676,781 last year.
