ANYONE DRIVING along the Kingston waterfront will see freighters loaded with cargo waiting for berthing space at the commercial wharves. Some delays are expected at Christmas as merchants import additional inventories to satisfy extra demand at this time of the year, but the present backup appears to be more acute than usual and is threatening to disrupt the normal Christmas trade.There is a specific cost to shipping delays called a demurrage charge, an amount charged for every day a ship remains idle in port.
If the shipping company is obliged to bear these charges, it may sail its ship to another port, taking the Jamaican cargo with it, hoping to return at a later date when Kingston is less congested. If the importer has to bear demurrage charges, this puts up the landed costs of his goods and the selling price to the consumer. Regardless of who has to bear the costs of port congestion, the overall economy suffers.
A part of the delay appears to be caused by the necessity for greater scrutiny of goods for Customs to detect under-invoicing and, no doubt, to check on contraband generally, including guns and ammunition. The threat of terrorism makes these extra precautions necessary but we would have hoped that the Port Authority of Jamaica, usually a very efficient organisation, would have foreseen the problem and taken steps to cope with it.
Christmas congestion is not confined to shipping, however. It also affects airline travel at a time when friends and family abroad return to Jamaica to spend the festive season here. Students studying abroad are also anxious to return home for Christmas and need to return to their overseas universities during the first week of the new year.
All of this puts a strain on the airlines serving Jamaica, particularly Air Jamaica which is often the carrier of choice. We note that Air Jamaica is planning to put on extra flights over the season and we hope that the airline's current financial difficulties will not curtail its ability to do so.
To be confronted with both shipping and airline delays this Christmas season would be bad news, indeed. The delays now being experienced at the wharves and the potential for more later in the month at the airports were all predictable and common sense would suggest proper planning for these eventualities. In the circumstances, we suggest the hiring of temporary staff or extending normal working hours as an immediate step to help clear the backlog which seems likely to get worse in the next few weeks.
