Hurricane Sandy disrupts domestic freights from U. S. – shippers

With the Christmas season fast approaching, several local shipping companies have confirmed that there has been a vast decline in the shipment of domestic freights from the U. S. for the period of November to date, compared to last year.
Many of the shipping companies, however, said commercial consignment shipments remain stable with businesses in Miami, Japan and Europe.
Laparkan Shipping Limited, Marketing and Sales Manager Yonette Jeffers told Guyana Times International that her company has seen a fall in the number of domestic shipments being transported for the Christmas season.
Despite the slip, Jeffers said her company anticipates those figures will rise in the coming weeks.
“We can surely say that looking back at the last two years; we have seen more consignments being shipped in comparison to the same period this year. We are hoping that more cargoes are going to be shipped during these last few weeks, leading up to Christmas.” She further cited the effects of Hurricane Sandy as one of the contributing factors to the huge dip in business at their ports in North America.
Additionally, John Fernandes Shipping Limited Marketing Manager John Archer also commented on the dip in consignments from North America for the season.
Archer went on to explain that although his company focuses on shipping mostly commercial cargoes, it transports a small quantum of domestic consignments.

Like the other shipping companies, Archer cited the effects of Hurricane Sandy for the interference in sea shipments.
This newspaper also spoke with a representative from Tropical Shipping, who said the company has also seen a decline in domestic shipments from the United States during October and early November, but noted that for the last two weeks, business has begun to accelerate.
On the issue of shipping deadline, Jeffers noted that many of the company’s shipping ports have already reached their shipping deadline as of this week, to ensure customers receive their consignments for the Christmas holidays.
Tropical shipping also shared similar views, but noted that because the company’s consignments are shipped by a larger business, they have no shipping due date.
Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur said the agency has strengthened its workforce at the various shipping terminals.
“We understand persons need to the get their barrels and boxes for the Christmas, so we have included additional staff at the wharves to make the clearing process quick and easy,” Sattaur assured.
Asked if the GRA would facilitates the process whereby the duty will be reduced for domestic consignments being cleared during the holidays, the commissioner said the revenue body has always put measures in place to address such concerns during this time.