Refurbished Guam cranes hit legal snag

Refurbished Guam cranes hit legal snag An effort by Jones Act carriers Matson Navigation Co. and Horizon Lines to bring three refurbished gantry cranes to the commercial port of Guam may take longer than expected.
   The Port Authority of Guam's acting general manager Carlos Salas told KUAM television Tuesday that PAG's contract for the three cranes with Matson and Horizon is tied up in a Guam court over a technical issue regarding Guam government procurement procedures.
   Matson and Horizon officials acknowledged that they knew of the case, but as neither firm is named or directly involved, each declined to speculate on the case.
   The two shipping lines, which combined deliver 80 percent of containerized goods to Guam, grew concerned about the local government's two failed attempts to obtain new gantry cranes for the port and in December proposed to 'donate' the three cranes to the port.
   PAG operates two nearly 30-year-old gantry cranes at the island's port. The two ocean carriers believe there is a critical need for new cranes to prevent a backlog of material when the U.S. military begins shifting its operations on Okinawa, Japan, to Guam in July 2010.
   Guam officials have twice tried to bid out a contract for two new gantry cranes. In both bidding processes Chinese crane maker ZPMC, operating through Guam representative Far East Equipment Co., was the sole bidder. The PAG decided both times, for various technical reasons, not to award the contract.
   Shortly after the announcement of the Matson and Horizon offer to bring the three refurbished cranes to the island, a lawyer for the Far East Equipment Co. wrote to the Guam government saying the PAG contract for the three cranes should be required to go through the government bidding process. An earlier letter from ZPMC also protested the dropping of the firm's bid in the second round of crane bidding.
   The latest snag in the process to bring the three cranes to Guam from their current home at the Port of Los Angeles involves the ZPMC protests.
   Salas confirmed the legal case to KUAM 'There was a protest and that protest has been appealed, but then it was referred to the court system for some technical issues, so I can’t discuss that case.'