Transshipment plans remain in limbo

The future remains bleak for the Commonwealth Ports Authority’s plan to promote Saipan as Micronesia’s transshipment hub, with the proposed bill that would provide CPA the necessary land for the project still pending at the Senate nearly a year after being assigned to a committee.

House Bill 14-016, which would designate 108,398 square meters of Puerto Rico public lands to CPA, has been sitting in the Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development and Programs since June 17, 2004.

The bill, also called the “Port of Saipan Expansion and Development Act of 2004,” has been awaiting action by the committee, led by Senator Luis Crisostimo, since House members passed unanimously in June last year.

The Saipan Tribune repeatedly tried to reach the committee chair, Sen. Luis Crisostimo, for his comment, but he was not available.

Yesterday, CPA executive director Carlos Salas maintained that the ports authority could not move forward with the project until it got control of the land.

“The existing container yard is already congested. To be able to do transshipment activities, we need to double up the size of the property we have right now,” Salas said.

He added that CPA had not been able to conduct any negotiations recently with the Marianas Public Lands Authority regarding the property, with CPA being “faced with more pressing matters.”

“We will see when it’s timely again to broach that idea,” Salas maintained.

In his presentation at the recent Marianas Roundtable, Salas touted the advantages of transshipping cargo at the Port of Saipan. These include:

* Port of Saipan can serve as a pre-clearance service port for U.S.-bound cargo

* CNMI Customs inspectors use lower wage rates vs. U.S. Customs’ personnel

* Lower tariff for transshipped cargo vs. nearby competing U.S. ports

* Port of Saipan has privatized stevedoring services vs. government operation at nearby competing U.S. ports and thus, very efficient

* The CNMI has a free trade zone program that provides for tax exemptions and incentives

* Good manufactured or produced in the CNMI are duty free when shipped into the United States under certain manufacturing conditions.

The land CPA is eyeing for its transshipment project is located between the Kaiser Cement Factory and the U.S. Army Reserve Office in Puerto Rico.

CPA has had a long-standing feud with MPLA over the property. While MPLA has expressed willingness to let the ports authority use the lands, the agency refuses to transfer property rights to CPA.