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Payment for containers reaches the courts
Posted On 31 Aug 2018
Ecuadornews:
Justice solves a commercial problem that entangles not only the container deposits and the exporters, but the Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) and the Municipality.
In an attempt to settle the differences between these two sectors, following the municipal decision to require courtyards shifts 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, the ministry ordered the suspension of the fee between $ 35 and $ 50 per unit.
The decision was not shared by the logistic operators because the ministry is not competent to decide the suspension of the collection.
This is how EXPRESO Jorge Luis Albornoz, sponsor of companies dedicated to the administration of empty containers, who filed a constitutional action against the Transport decision, in the Southern Judicial Unit.
In other words, the ministry wants the service to continue, but not to be charged. The Municipality has not reversed its ordinance, which not only forced the courtyards to work 24 hours a day (an order from the transporters), but also to expand the perimeter walls, the internal routes and the exits and entrances, the floor, the spaces for parking. There were 54 standards.
“The Constitution says that all services must be paid,” adds Albornoz. The mayor of the city, Jaime Nebot, has indicated that the matter should be resolved by the private sector.
Exporters and carriers, by that ordinance, can withdraw containers at any time and better manage their operations.
“The issue is political,” stand owners of courtyards. 77% of the containers for bananas are now removed at night, improving the operations in balers, saving time and money. Shrimp has grown in exports better than any other sector in 2017. To say that they are “seriously affected is something outlandish, the cost is $ 0.0008 per pound“.
The exporters went through the same legal route, through their guild. Fedexpor yesterday, before judicial authorities, filed an appeal of amicus curiae “to ensure the restitution of the rights of exporters before the imminent failure by actors in the logistics chain to suspend charges in the container yards while they are reviewed and they show their costs “, as established in the MTOP resolutions.
That would allow them to participate in the hearing, which will be next Monday, and for the judge to hear them, if you wish.
This initiative is from Acorbanec (banana plantations), Anecacao, Ceipe (fishing industries), Asoexpla, Fundación Mango Ecuador, Fedecámaras.
Positions
Deposits
Container warehouses state that the 24/7 operation allows to improve time and money, since it is possible to better plan the withdrawals of the containers. They have invested to make the required improvements.
Exporters
The National Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor) indicates that the collection reduces the competitiveness of bananas, cocoa, fishing, flowers, wood, shrimp and other export products, so it should not be paid. (I)
