‘Door-to-door transportation system of containers massive loss to traders’
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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 4 : The Union of Kuwaiti traders and food manufacturers sent several letters to the Minister of State for Services Affairs, Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs and the Minister of Trade and Industry, in addition to the President of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry in relation to the mechanism of transporting containers from the Shuaiba port, door to door, reports Al-Anba daily.
In this regard, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union Abdullah Al- Baijan confirmed that the Union received complaints from many import companies and food factories indicating the Kuwaiti Ports Authority had developed a new mechanism related to the transportation of containers from Shuaiba Port to an open yard in Mina Abdullah, completely devoid of electricity and necessary requirements and equipment that would ensure the safety and preservation of food and raw materials in those containers.
Al-Baijan added the situation led to the pile up of containers in the yard and delay of customs clearance of goods imported into the country whereas the importing companies and factories bear the fees of containers at a rate of KD 30 for 20-foot container KD 35 for a 40-foot container to be transported from Shuaiba port to the yard in Mina Abdullah. In a statement to the daily, Al-Baijan indicated an increase in the cost of trucks transporting containers from the yard to the companies’ warehouses as a result of the delay in loading containers for more than 48 hours.
This will lead to an increase in commodity costs and trickle down to the consumers. Al-Baijan pointed out that the implementation of the door-to-door mechanism resulted in a number of challenges, including preventing importers from using their own trucks inside the Shuaiba Port, which led the companies to incur unjustified costs, entrenched monopoly and eliminated freedom of competition.
He stressed that delaying the company that is qualified to work at Shuaiba Port in transporting export containers to Shuaiba Port and leaving ship without loading the export containers will lead the exporting companies to incur floor fees and additional unjustified losses.
He pointed out that such an administrative decision has many repercussions, including high transportation prices, congestion and overcrowding of containers in the dry port (open yards) in a random way that makes it difficult for the representatives of the import companies to know the incoming containers.
Al-Baijan added, the mechanism for implementing the door to door decision and limiting it to 4 companies led to the suspension of transport activity for more than 3,760 transport companies, and the suspension of work for trucks of food importing companies, which established the principle of monopoly and the trend of returning national workers to government sector.
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