Information

Shipping Association of Guyana plays key role in national development

Demerara Harbour is scheduled for upgrading and in the year ahead the Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG) will be working with other stakeholders to provide capital resources for dredging and other services.

The SAG has been relentless in its efforts to have the draught situation in Demerara harbour attended to as a matter of urgency. That situation reflects years of inadequate maintenance and a lack of modern equipment to assist in its upkeep.
The public-private sector partnership will set up a fund to enhance the conditions within Demerara harbour. The work will be done with local expertise and managed by a consortium including the SAG and the Maritime Administration Department.

Emphasis

The SAG says the year ahead will see more emphasis on related cargo clearance procedures. A more strategic approach is planned and the Customs and Trade Administration will be central to this initiative. There will be a more structured approach to issues related to Customs procedures and documentation. The aim is to drastically reduce new and emerging problems that plague the industry from time to time. It is hoped that closer ties could be established with the Customs Brokers Association with the aim of having more effective dialogue with the Customs department. This initiative was started in the latter half of 2009 with a training seminar in Customs broker management, run by the Customs department, which targeted Customs brokers, Customs officers and officers of the SAG.

Strategy

In its strategy for the year ahead, the SAG has adopted a new approach to deal with sector-specific issues. The aim is to consolidate and harmonise relationships with various sectors of industry. At year end a timetable was being drawn up to include regular forums with all sectors: that is, all engaged in international trade and dependent on the shipping sector. A proactive approach has been adopted. This initiative is designed to ensure that problems are identified and dealt with immediately or as soon as possible after they emerge or become evident. Success will ensure that complaints are kept to a minimum.

In the year ahead, the SAG will continue efforts begun three years ago to establish a demurrage company. The association also plans what it described as “fresh engagements with our sister organisations in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago”. It plans to continue its training programme in collaboration with the Maritime Administration Department and the Caribbean Maritime Institute, with which a training partnership has already been established.

Opportunities

Completion of the Guyana-Brazil road has presented new opportunities for trading activities in Guyana and the SAG intends to take advantage of such opportunities. Guyana is a main outlet to the Atlantic Ocean for the South American continent and the completion of an overland cargo route linking Guyana with Brazil is, to say the least, important.

SAG projects are in line with the government’s plans for the development of the local maritime sector. Indeed, SAG and other stakeholders have already taken the initiative to improve the level of services being offered within the shipping industry and to open new avenues for business. It is in this context, says the SAG, that “we strive for closer collaboration with the Caribbean Shipping Association in support of its objectives and development plans for national [shipping] associations in the region”.

The SAG ended last year on hope, promise and a positive attitude to national development. Throughout the year, the association collaborated with other stakeholders in the shipping industry and pursued strategies and programmes that contributed to the aims of Guyana’s National Development Strategy.

Guyana reported an overall decline in shipping of about 14 per cent in the first six months of 2009. The SAG says this should be compared with the 16 per cent decline in world shipping over the same period, reported by Presseurop in November 2009.

Dialogue

Large vessels are not sailing half-empty to Guyana, perhaps because large vessels are not sailing to Guyana. The country is therefore not suffering fallout as a result of lines rethinking routes and schedules. Because of draught restrictions in the Port of Georgetown, very large vessels do not use the port where the bulk of the country’s international trade transits.

In January 2009 a Public Private Dialogue (PPD) organisation was set up to look at trade transactions and procedures considered to be time-consuming. The aim was:
• To identify problems associated with such delays
• To investigate issues related to import/export procedures and concerns within the industry
• To prepare recommendations for solutions.

The issue of the dredging the Demerara channel received urgent attention. The PPD still hopes this project will receive assistance from the Inter American Development Bank.