The Commonwealth Ports Authority may soon ink an agreement with a company that would be in charge of running the Tinian port following disclosure that a memorandum of agreement between parties is now being readied.<\/p>\n
Tinian Marine Stevedore Inc. officials had approached the CPA board, seeking a formal designation as the authorized Tinian ports operator, a document that would certify their legitimate business on island.<\/p>\n
According to Norman Tenorio, the company\u2019s board member, they need the MOU to signify that they are authorized and have legitimate business at the port of Tinian.<\/p>\n
Tenorio\u2019s personal appearance at a CPA board meeting last week, along with company executives Mike Tenorio and Mike Demapan, was also intended to clarify an earlier \u201cmisconception\u201d about their request.<\/p>\n
It was earlier reported to the board that Tinian Marine Stevedore Inc. is requesting exclusive stevedoring rights on Tinian, an idea that was initially opposed by the Tinian delegation. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not asking exclusivity. What we want is to be designated as the authorized operator for the port of Tinian because right now, what we only have with CPA is a lease [agreement] but we don\u2019t have designation,\u201d clarified Mike Tenorio.<\/p>\n
According to CPA executive director MaryAnn Lizama, there were two stevedoring companies on Tinian at one point: Tinian Stevedore and Tinian Marine Stevedore Inc. Due to the slowdown in activities at the island\u2019s port, both pulled out their operation.<\/p>\n
When Tinian Marine Stevedore returned, Tenorio said that they started seeking this designation from CPA, to no avail. The company, he said, is banking on the arrival of military vessels and other ships on Tinian. To date, it was disclosed that they lack a \u201cdocument\u201d to show authorities like the U.S. Coast Guard and OSHA when required one.<\/p>\n
According to CPA\u2019s Lizama, Tinian Marine Stevedore is the only stevedoring company on Tinian at present and that it pays its lease faithfully.<\/p>\n
However, she disclosed that there are some concerns aired by small boat owners on the potential imposition of new charges assessed by the company if designated this authority.<\/p>\n
But, according to company\u2019s officials, they are after the vessels that dock in the main port of Tinian. <\/p>\n
According to Norman Tenorio, it\u2019s always been the position of the company that \u201cwhat\u2019s good for Tinian is good for the Tinian Marine Stevedore.\u201d He said they are receptive to the idea about a new hotel investment that reportedly wants to be built on where the company is currently sits.<\/p>\n
He said all they need is to just be informed about the finalized plan and the site where they will potentially be relocated. <\/p>\n
Despite the continued difficulty faced by businesses on Tinian, Tenorio said that Tinian Marine decided to take the risk in an aim to continue doing business on the island.<\/p>\n
Board member Benigno Sablan indicated that the MOU will be prepared by the agency\u2019s legal counsel, Janet King.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Commonwealth Ports Authority may soon ink an agreement with a company that would be in charge of running the Tinian port following disclosure that a memorandum of agreement between parties is now being readied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}