16973: lyall: on haitian ports and business (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: j.david lyall <j.david@lyalls.net>

Last week I was in Miami shopping. And getting another three month residence card.
I dropped some stuff off at a haitian freight forwarder. They load containers and charge
by the cubic foot. I was late, on a saturday and called ahead a couple of times to make
sure that the dude would be there for me. I was leaving at 6am on monday, see.

We got talking about life in haiti and all and I mentioned that I had read that the port
charges in Port au Prince were the highest in the caribbean. He dragged out an
invoice (or something resembling it) and showed me that they pay a shipping company
200 u$d to carry a 20 foot container to paup. The port authority then charges 750 u$d
and doesn't provide security for yr property.

If Hayti is to ever drag itself up out of this hole these things need to change. Why are
factories being built on the DR border? Cause its cheaper to drive to Santo Domingo
and use the port there than use the PauP port 1/2 mile from the industrial zone.

J.David Lyall
http://www.lyalls.net/