Seaport revenues soar 21 percent

Revenues generated from seaport activities soared 21 percent in Fiscal Year 2000 to $5.3 million from 1999’s $4.4 million, a financial report obtained from the Commonwealth Ports Authority disclosed.

CPA attributed the $0.9 million difference to the adjustments made on the seaport charges that include fees on embarking passengers, wharfage and entry, as well as the implementation of paid parking at the harbor.

However, the rollback on fees collected from embarking passengers in September pulled down September 2000 revenues by five percent to $519,427 from last year of the same month’s $547,079.

CPA rolled back embarking passenger fees from $6 to $2.25. As a result, revenues from this particular category dropped 52 percent to $59,499 from the 1999 financial year’s $155,203.

According to the financial report prepared by Comptroller Dave S. Demapan, overall revenues since FY99 have registered an increasing trend mainly because CPA raised seaport charges beginning July of the previous year.

The report also emphasized that the increase in revenues was primarily spurred by the rate adjustment and the implementation of the paid parking system at the Saipan International Harbor this year.

In fact, gross revenue tonnage for the whole of the financial year 2000 dropped 2.4 percent from 917,789 in FY99 to only about 895,700. The two percent increase in outbound revenue tonnage failed to make up for the four percent decline in overall inbound revenue tonnage.

Also, CPA is concerned over the possibility of a major slow down in seaport activities following projections that the Saipan apparel manufacturing sector is pulling out of the Commonwealth when the United States lift trade quotas in 2005.

This, because Saipan’s container traffic is heavily imbalance with nearly three times as many loads bound for the island than originating in the island.

At least 90 percent of inbound and only 20 percent of outbound — mostly garment and apparel products — traffic at the Saipan seaport is loaded with cargo.

Officials anticipate no more than five- to seven-year life for garment production on the island, citing the absence of specific advantages offered by the CNMI government to garment manufacturers other than the existing tariff and quota exemptions.

This and the resulting reductions in tariffs will virtually eliminate the competitive advantage of garment manufacturing industry on Saipan.