MONROVIA, LIBERIA-The Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), Bill Twehway, is expected to meet with the business community today, Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at 3 p.m. at the Liberia Chamber of Commerce (LCC) to explain the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) and address the cost and implementation concerns.
The CTN proffered by the NPA and being implemented led to unanticipated, unusual events and challenges for LCC’s members and the community at large. Notwithstanding the experiences, “we remain engage with the various branches of government at the highest level for remedies; hence, this update,” a press release said.
The Special Committee/Joint Committee on Commerce and Industry and Public Corporations appointed by the Senate Plenary to investigate and report on the NPA CTN contract with GTMS requested the MD to meet with the business community.
The release said, “You will recall that at the written request of the Honorable Senate, the Notice to Boycott the NPA by LCC was suspended. The Senate Special Committee then held two meetings with the LCC; the second was a roundtable meeting that included NPA’s MD, Twehway, Minister Wilson Tarpeh, and a representative of GTMS, Ms. Aminata Bangura.”
The parties were also given the opportunity to present their position on the CTN matter and in a presentation made by Mr. Twehway on the ISPS compliance and the CTN, he informed the body that his institution is taking steps to ensure that there would be some costs trade-offs to offset any impact of the CTN fees to the consuming public or the Pro-Poor Agenda as follows:
Shipping costs billing: the NPA has identified demurrage and storage costs billed importers by shipping lines, the NPA will eliminate these charges; shipping Lines Port Insurance Billing: NPA has identified Port insurance fee billed to importers; this fee will be paid to NPA because it is the NPA that provide, the Port insurance service to importers. The NPA would eliminate some port charges in the clearing of containers. One Stop Shop Processing Clearing Efficiency at NPA: Services relating to processing and clearing of containers will now be done exclusively within the Port; the NPA is exploring the possibility to reduce the CTN tariff on import of containers.
Upon conclusion Senator Varney Sherman requested the MD to reduce his presentation in writing to form part of their record and report to the Senate Plenary. The senator also requested the MD to speak to the business community at the LCC; hence, the called meeting for today.