Guyana’s harbour should be deepened
– to keep up with global freighting trends

‘If you don’t have deep harbours and significantly improved port and handling facilities, these massive ships won’t come to your country, which means huge losses in revenue…’
– CSA President, Carlos Urriola-Tam

THE SHIPPING industry is growing, and bigger and better cargo carriers as large as 1300 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) are already replacing the vessels (500 – 800 TEU) that have been in operation for some years.
These behemoths are able to freight thousands more containers, and weightier bulk cargo to ports all around the world.  “If you don’t have deep harbours and significantly improved port and handling facilities, these massive ships won’t come to your country, which means huge losses in revenue….,” said Carlos Urriola-Tam, President of the Caribbean Shipping Association.
He was speaking on the topic, ‘Global Economics, Trade & Maritime Transport – possible impact on Guyana’ at the Shipping Association of Guyana’s Dinner and Awards presentation event held in December.
Urriola posited that with the current level of the draft in Guyana’s port, some 5 metres, these larger freighters would not be able to enter these waters.  The cascading effect of loss of business could affect Guyana’s economy badly, he opined.  In addition, the larger amount of cargo these new ships could carry “may very well rule Guyana out as a destination port because the ships will not go where there is insufficient cargo.”
The general prediction in the international maritime world of shipping is that a great boom is expected to take place particularly in Latin American commerce, and Guyana could do well to establish synergies with Brazil and other Caribbean countries.
Integration is the key, Urriola said, not only for commerce, but for cruise tourism and Maritime Security and Trade Facilitation Systems, which definitely result in higher revenues and smoother business transactions from port to port.
He spoke of security issues that have been implemented in ports around the world, particularly in North America following the 9/11 catastrophe in New York.  “Hundreds of new security measures, including 100 per cent screening, have negatively affected the business of shipping in every way,” he said, and reiterated that integration of the industry in this region, harmonization of laws and procedures, and the implementation of a set of strategies and pillars for deliverables outlined by the Caribbean Shipping Association, could and would minimize the effects of some of those barriers.
“The next five years are immensely critical,” Urriola said, and, using the current expansion taking place in the Panama Canal, demonstrated the absolute need for enlargement of current facilities in the Caribbean which usually require significant funding.
The famous man-made Canal is being lengthened, and a complex state-of-the-art system of ‘locks’ and ‘scales’ installed to accommodate the huge cargo freighters which are beginning to dominate the seas and oceans.  He contended that Guyana would do well to begin the process of deepening the draft in Port Georgetown in order to stay competitive.
The Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG) had already approached the government, and talks are continuing into 2011 for the acquisition of international funding to deepen the harbour by at least another metre.
Public Works Minister, Mr. Robeson Benn, at his yearend press briefing, stated categorically that shipping companies utilizing the port will have to help finance the dredging and maintenance of the port, which conservative estimates put at between US$8 – 10M.
The Minister said he was unsure whether the government should invest in deepening the Demerara River harbour, in light of plans to construct a deep-water port in the Berbice River, but that proposals are on the table to acquire a new dredge to supplement the existing dredge, the ‘Steve N’.
SAG also expects to enter into a public-private partnership with an international funding agency to secure the financing necessary for deepening the harbour.
In the meantime, Urriola reiterated: “We are in the business of trade and commerce – moving commodities.  If we are not able to deliver, and deliver on time, we will not succeed.”
Prime Minister, Mr. Samuel Hinds in responding to Urriola’s comments in December, said then that he realized that his government must be realistic in planning and execution, and gave a tentative commitment to have the Georgetown port deepened and upgraded as soon as possible.
Long standing member, Trustee and Past President of SAG, and CEO of John Fernandes Ltd., disclosed that the shipping industry in Guyana has seen some improvement in 2010.  Terminal operators, logistics experts, shipping agents, ship owners and Customs were ‘forced’ to come together, he said, to draw up plans to ‘streamline’ certain functionalities in the industry after a negative report on Guyana was issued by the World Bank.  Serious recommendations were made by the maritime operators and these will form part of the discussions that SAG is having this year with government.

Rewarding outstanding shippers

The SAG Dinner and Awards is an annual event held to recognize the outstanding people and organizations who/that have succeeded in improving Guyana’s international competitiveness, have recorded sustained growth, and contributed to the Guyana economy.
*John Fernandes Ltd: Hailed as a pioneer in Guyana’s Shipping Industry, John Fernandes Limited was credited with handling in excess of 50 per cent of containerized cargo moving in and out of Guyana.  The company has been in operation since the 1940s, beginning as a small pier on Water Street rented by John Fernandes Snr. Political unrest and the consequent fires that had razed most of Georgetown destroyed the pier. Fernandes Snr. constructed his own just months later.   The company has since been run successively by the senior’s sons: John Jnr., Bunny and now Christopher, who was able to extend JFL from Stabroek to Robb St., acquiring the former J.P. Santos and Guyana Stores Agency buildings in the process.  JFL established the first off-port Container Terminal, situated on 12 acres of land off Mandela Avenue, two miles from the congestion of the port.
*Laparkan Freight Forwarders: Established in 1983 by John LaRose, Terrence Pariag and Glenn Khan, this entity employs over 400 persons in its freighting network of 20 locations in Guyana, the USA and Canada, with a hub in Trinidad & Tobago, and a direct air freighter service, via Laparkan Airways from Miami, to key Caribbean markets.   Laparkan has been categorized as an international Tier One ocean cargo consolidator which also offers Private Mailbox, Courier and Brokerage services among other local logistics.
*C&V Caribbean Shipping Ltd: With main offices on Laluni St., Queenstown, C&V was founded in 1992 by Francis Camacho and Richard Van Sluytman to provide import and export containerized services for local and international principals including ZIM and Seafreight Agencies.  This year, C&V succeeded in breaking into new foreign markets to improve access for other shippers.
*ANRAL Shipping, based in Charlestown, Georgetown, is best known for coastal and Caribbean shipping.  They too have recorded sustained growth.