Importers of more than 400 vehicles left in the Bridgetown Port face the possibility of them being auctioned off if not collected in 14 days.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Port Inc. (BPI) David Jean-Marie and Comptroller of Customs Owen Holder made that known yesterday in response to the high number of uncollected shipments contributing to delays with other imports.
During a press conference at Cube Blue, Harbour Road, St Michael, Jean-Marie explained that their storage capacity was under strain as the vehicles remained for much longer than required.
“Our physical count on Monday, February 10, 2025, totalled 469 vehicles and 28 vehicle shells in the port. Customs had a legitimate interest in another 15 vehicles, also in the port. This situation is contributing significantly to congestion as some of these automobiles have had to be placed in areas designated for the storage of containers.
“Containers, as a result, are being stored at three and four high, making it necessary for us to shift multiple containers to retrieve those requested for delivery. This is impacting both full and empty containers,” said Jean-Marie.
From 3 to 218 days
Some of the vehicles have been in port from three days to more than a year.
He acknowledged the progressive increase in the time trucks spent in the port. The time in port more than doubled the 35 minutes target set with some reaching 88 minutes in January this year.
Recently, the port had to reduce how many trucks were allowed in and one arriving vessel was also impacted.
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