PNP: ‘Man-made logistics crisis’ at Kingston port driving up hurting business and returning residents

Opposition spokesman Anthony Hylton says the Government’s "failure" to address recurring congestion at the Port of Kingston is driving up costs for hurricane recovery and hurting small businesses and returning residents.

Hylton, the People’s National Party spokesman on trade, investment and global logistics, demanded what he described as immediate action to resolve what he called a “man-made logistics crisis”.

“The annual Christmas congestion at the Port of Kingston is a known and recurring weakness that the government has failed to fix,” Hylton said in a statement on Friday. “This situation was exacerbated by the surge of relief imports in the post Hurricane Melissa period as a result of the relief appeal by the government, and the duty free concessions announced, but no corresponding operational capacity or announced crisis protocols were implemented.”

Continuing, he said, “the result is a man made logistics crisis, undermining disaster response and imposing additional costs on small enterprises and individuals, including returning residents. Despite clear warning signs from previous years, there is no public indication that the government implemented the systemic reforms needed to build resilience before Hurricane Melissa.”

Hylton further argued that individuals and SMEs are being charged demurrage and storage fees amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars for containers and packages they cannot clear because of systemic delays they did not cause and cannot control. This amounts to a private penalty for public sector and port operator inefficiencies.”

He maintained that in the context of a declared disaster and a known seasonal bottleneck at the Port of Kingston, the Government has a duty to shield vulnerable groups and ensure relief goods are not priced out of reach by port-related charges.

Industry stakeholders have pointed to a combination of factors behind the backlog.

On January 23, the Shipping Association of Jamaica warned that congestion at ports and warehouses could worsen unless cargo owners urgently clear uncollected goods left after the traditional holiday shipping rush.

“The longer stripped cargo remains uncollected, the bigger the problem becomes,” said Corah Ann Robertson-Sylvester, president of the association, in a statement at the time. “All institutions within the maritime sector, including government agencies, are working together to resolve this issue, but we need cargo owners to come forward and collect their goods.”

The association said the backlog was compounded in October following Hurricane Melissa, which disrupted operations across western Jamaica and delayed the collection of already-landed cargo.

It described “an unprecedented volume of shipments” driven by peak holiday imports and a surge of relief supplies from the diaspora and international donors. Some cargo was diverted from Montego Bay to Kingston as a contingency, but terminals in the capital were said to be operating above normal capacity.

The group also cited expired Unaccompanied Baggage Allowance, or “yellow form”, documents as a contributor to delays, particularly affecting personal and relief shipments, and warned that prolonged clearance times would increase demurrage and storage costs, strain supply chains and potentially push up consumer prices.

Members of the public with cargo ready for collection were urged to contact their shipping agents, brokers or warehouse operators to arrange immediate clearance.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.