Information received with thanks from Matheus & Ulloa, Caracas, Venezuela
During the last weeks Venezuelan media has published news reporting that a considerable number of containers with food in damaged condition have been found in several places in Venezuela as in Puerto Cabello port and some container yards in different localities. Although the exact number of containers is unknown, it is said that there are 2,000 to 4,000 containers or more in this situation.
The majority of these containers have been imported by the Government which in the past years has imported significant amounts of food, expending in 2007 about US$ 3,600 millions, US$ 7,500 millions in 2008 and US$ 11,000 millions in 2009.
Many of these containers have remained in some Venezuelan ports and container yards since 2009 and it is not yet clear why they were not removed and delivered to final consumers. Authorities opened an investigation on this matter. In 2009 La Guaira and Puerto Cabello ports were plenty of food containers which were not removed during months and this caused a collapse in those ports to the extent that there was the need to leave many refrigerated containers in foreign ports until enough space and power pack connections were available in local ports.
This situation could cause problems for shipowners in several ways: they could have cargo claims; additional operating costs; difficulties in the recovery of demurrage payments for the use of containers; facing sanctions for exceeding the legal term without removing the unit out of the Country.
This situation is quite sensible due to the scandal reported by the media, showing almost everyday news of containers with food found in unsound condition which has not been delivered.
This subject has given room to a huge political debate during the past weeks where it has been questioned that an important quantity of food has been lost (more than 100,000 MT) and also millions of US dollars. This atmosphere could cause an additional problem for bulk carriers arriving to Venezuela with food cargoes damaged in transit, since it is possible that health and phytosanitary authorities would not be willing to allow discharge or segregation of the affected products to avoid more media exposure.
Source: skuld
