![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/dno\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/cargo-300x240.jpg\" "\\"cargo\\"")
I am one of the Dominicans living abroad who continue to make sacrifices to help loved ones and relatives back home.<\/p>\nI am one of the Dominicans living abroad who continue to make sacrifices to help loved ones and relatives back home.<\/p>\n
From time to time I ship barrels, boxes and bins of personal effects and groceries to my family members, relatives and friends. However, I am very much appalled by the outrageous charges levied on them by cargo agents.<\/p>\n
I can not believe that the cargo agent is charging the poor man $30 per box for the delivery note. The delivery note is proof that the bearer has a package in customs and that\u2019s all it is for. After an in-depth review of the shipping process from its origin to its destination I was able to conclude that that some Dominica cargo agents are indeed robbing the poor people of their hard earned money for simple cargo delivery note which is referred to as (paper work).<\/p>\n
I live on St. Thomas where I ship foodstuffs on a regular basis. When I compare dollar for dollar I can almost say that that it is cheaper to ship the items than to pay the agent in Dominica for what he charges for the paper work.<\/p>\n
When asked what the charges are for, the agent gives various explanations. Sometimes he says it is for paper work fee, other times he says it is for landing fees. I found out that landing fees belong to Port Authority and that the cargo agent is not the one paying the fees to Port Authority. These fees are prepaid in St. Thomas together with the freight charges and are passed to Port Authority by the shipping company transporting the container to Dominica.<\/p>\n
How long are we going to allow this blatant robbery to continue? How long will we have greedy agents continue to take advantage of the poor man in Dominica?\u00a0 My investigation led me further to learn that that all expenses relating to shipping and off-loading a container is paid by the shipper. The agent has nothing to pay and nothing to handle except writing a delivery note to each person who has items in the container.<\/p>\n
Furthermore customs has implemented an electronic customs processing system whereby all shipping information is uploaded to the customs computer systems making the work much easier and less time-consuming.<\/p>\n
Under this new system there is no need to seek the services of a customs broker or cargo agent for barrels and boxes that are considered as gifts or presents. All the shipper has to do is provide the person receiving the cargo with a bill of lading to take to customs.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s face it, a container arrives in Dominica from St. Thomas, the boat lands the container, Port Authority off loads the container and stores the cargo in the custom warehouse.\u00a0 A cargo agent has nothing to do with offloading or handling of cargo.<\/p>\n
Other information I received from the shipping company that I deal with on St. Thomas is that the company pays all the shipping, landing and port charges. Information I gathered from Dominica Port Authority and Customs Department is that the money the cargo agent charges the customers for paper work has nothing to do with government fees or port fees.<\/p>\n
When you think of what is being charged by the agent for paper work is none other than highway robbery.\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore, it goes beyond question that cargo agents are taking advantage of the poor man and the government should not cast a blind eye to this rip-off scheme but rather step in to bring relief to the poor people.<\/p>\n
Something must be done now. Too long have our people been taken for joy ride by greedy and unscrupulous cargo agents who keeping sucking their blood dry while they blame it on government.<\/p>\n
Would you believe that when cargo arrives on St. Thomas from Dominica we only pay $5.00 for delivery?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I am one of the Dominicans living abroad who continue to make sacrifices to help loved ones and relatives back home. From time to time I ship barrels, boxes and bins of personal effects and groceries to my family members,…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":24234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters-to-the-editor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n