WILLEMSTAD - On Bonaire, there was a commotion in recent days after the director of the freight company Don Andres Eugenio de Jongh said he was shocked by a huge increase in stevedoring rates from the Curaçao Ports Services (CPS). In a letter to CPS dated 29 January, De Jongh protests against the extra costs that were charged unannounced.
As a result, the invoice is over 10,000 guilders higher "while as far as we know there is no additional service from CPS," said De Jongh in his letter. The director also says that it is absurd that the CPS costs have become higher than the total transport costs per container have ever been. This is beyond reason.
De Jongh states that he fully understands if CPS wants to raise the rates after 30 years, but only if this is done in phases and is communicated in advance. Don Andres wants an appointment with CPS in the short term to discuss the matter "and jointly find a solution".
The "monstrous increase in stevedore rates" will also have direct consequences for businesses and consumers in Curaçao. "Our customers will no longer try to import the same goods from Curaçao, but from other countries where the stevedoring rates are reasonable," predicts De Jongh, who foresees the downfall of his business. Don Andres is "disproportionately hit," he says, because the cost increase does not apply to containers coming from abroad.
“The export of the goods from Curaçao to Bonaire will decrease sharply and that has a negative impact on the Curaçao economy.”
The rates of Curaçao Port Services (CPS) have not been increased. The fact that the sea freight company Don Andres nv, established on Bonaire, was overcharged for January 2020 was caused by an administrative error, but mainly due to incorrect actions by the company itself.
But according to Fernando da Costa Gomez of CPS there is no question of a tariff increase, but that it was an administrative error that has since been corrected. "The calculation was incorrect, but we immediately corrected that with credit notes. Moreover, the company itself is the cause of the entire problem,” says the CPS director.
“We charge $ 34.50 for Bonaire containers. We have been subsidizing the island as a company for 30 years. That rate has never changed. Don Andres has recently been transporting cargo from the Dominican Republic and has wrongly wanted to bring those containers within the Bonaire cargo, so under the subsidized rate. They tried to bypass the system. Something went wrong in our administration system when we wanted to fix it. The total bill for January has been entered with the foreign rate for the Dominican Republic.”
The credit notes to correct that error were sent before De Jongh wrote his letter. Da Costa Gomez says that De Jongh’s complaint It is scandalous. He must be ashamed.”
