Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Wednesday, 8 November 2023, 16:49 by Denis Chabrol
Left to right: City Mayor Alfred Mentore, NAMILCO’s CEO Bert Sukhai, United States Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot and President Irfaan Ali.
President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday announced that Guyana and Barbados were working to end difficulties in the movement of cargo from Trinidad to this South American nation.
Addressing the commissioning of a US$8 million mixing plant of the National Milling Company (NAMILCO), a subsidiary of the American company, SEABOARD, the Guyanese leader said steps were being taken to maximise the use of a shipping facility in Bridgetown to move cargo to Guyana. “I’m working with Barbados now to say to Barbados… maybe Barbados can give us a special area on their port where we have all the containers there and we have a more efficient transshipment plan from Barbados to Guyana with the two countries at the government level entering into an arrangement,” he said.
Dr Ali said talks between the two sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations “are very far advanced” and very soon authorities would engage NAMILCO and other freight movers to take advantage of that “guaranteed market”. The President also hoped that NAMILCO could play a key role in the processing of Guyana’s increasing soya and corn production to manufacture animal feed for export to the Caribbean including the Dominican Republic.
He said a number of members of the private sector informed him that most of shipping containers have to be offloaded in Trinidad and then transshipped to Guyana and “the transshipment cost to Guyana has increased tremendously.”
Meanwhile, President Ali reiterated the Guyana government’s desire to increase the draught of the Demerara River, Guyana’s major commercial waterway. He said he was “pushing” the Maritime Administration and the Shipping Association of Guyana to “quickly find a model” that is cost-effective and sustainable. He said government was also mulling the creation of a two-way channel in the Demerara River. “The expansion of the channel, too. We now have to think seriously, although we know that we have to do a new deep-water harbour, what should be the optimal channel for the Demerara River; whether we go to a two-lane channel,” he said, adding there was rapid development on both sides of the river.
Chief Executive Officer of NAMILCO, Bert Sukhai told the commissioning ceremony, that Guyana’s labour shortage could be addressed if local workers emulate the “commendable” work ethic of the Indonesian team that came to install the machinery. “The general adoption of this approach to work in Guyana could narrow the labour supply demand gap that currently exists in the country.” Workers from Guyana, Indonesia, Italy, Guatemala and the United States worked on various aspects of the construction of the mixing plant which can be operated by an application on a mobile phone.
NAMILCO, which is ISO 9001 standards compliant, has been supplying Guyana for flour for 54 years.