New CSA president says smaller islands need help

New CSA president says smaller islands need help The new president of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) says the smaller island nations of the Caribbean need outside help to improve port-area infrastructure, and that all CSA members need to work toward uniform security and customs entry standards.
   Fernando Rivera, who was elected president of the regional shipping group on November 30, told the Florida Connection he thinks help for smaller Caribbean nations is a top priority, and would like to see public-private assistance to help those countries.
   'We need to se how ports, and especially the smaller ones, improve efficiency,' said Rivera , who is also vice president of Harbor Bunkering Corp. in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
   Rivera said the ports need to improve not only the infrastructure within the ports, but the roads and access facilities around the ports. But he said many countries simply cannot afford to finance their own infrastructure improvements.
   'At the smaller ports, funding and the overall economy is not always the best, and they have problems with efficiency. A lot of ports are getting overloaded,' he said.
   He believes the CSA can help by sitting down with steamship lines to discuss ways to fund improvements for ports and access roads, and that public-private partnerships will be a key to solving the problems.
   Rivera also hopes to have the CSA conduct an extensive inventory of not only port infrastructures within the home countries of CSA members, but an inventory of security operations and standards, as well.
   He said the countries with CSA members have reached about 75 percent compliance with post-9/11 security standards, but they now need to determine how to improve that to a number closer to 100 percent.
   Rivera has been meeting with officials from the U.S. Coast Guard's 7th District headquarters in Miami, which covers not only the Southeast U.S. but the entire Caribbean Basin. The Coast Guard can provide direction in setting and meeting port security standards, which will be a key to keeping cargo moving in the key U.S. market. He also hopes to meet with Department of Homeland Security officials after the first of the year.
   One key to improved operating efficiencies and security standards is training, Rivera said. The most efficient and affordable way to handle that would be to bring training programs to the islands, rather than having cash-strapped ports send their people to costly training programs with accompanying travel costs. Rivera is also meeting with university officials in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to discuss the possibility of establishing training programs with the help of university expertise and facilities.
   As for customs issues, Rivera said each country has its own specific issues, but that there needs to be some baseline customs rules that should be common throughout the Caribbean.
   'If a country has some special requirements, okay, but we need to get together on the basics to be efficient,' he observed.
   He added the U.S. should also play an active role in helping to establish fundamental customs entry standards.