CARIBBEAN TODAY


4


 .vw^caibbdRyc R fGO A n D FREIG I T

 ~ A Caribbean Today advertising feature

Banana farmers raise shipping concerns Crowl


 over new trade deal with Europe service


KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent,
CMC Regional banana
farmers have charged that
their concerns are not being
addressed in the current draft
of the new Economic
Partnership
Agreement (EPA)
to be implemented
by the European
Union from next
January.
 Renwick Rose, ,
coordinator of the .,
Windward Islands
Farmers Association
(WINFA), told an
audience at a "Stop
EPA Day" rally .
here last month, that
the EPA draft being
presently negotiated
by regional govern-
ments missed the
critical issue of
developmental assis-
tance from the
Europeans. He said
developmental assis-
tance should be the
underpinning of any Cargo shippil
agreement negotiat-
ed on behalf of the region's
people.
 "Secondly, they say that
regional integration is part of
it, we have proposed that you
can't have access to regional
markers when there is no
shipping between the islands,"
Rose said.
 "We have to rely on the
banana boat if we want to
ship intra regionally and this
is not working out good. We
have proposed that, as part of
the EPA, there should be an
investment in a regional ship-
ping line withrefrigeration
facilities."

ASSISTANCE
 The WINFA official said
regional farmers also needed
financial and technical assis-
tance in order to assist them
with developing the capacity
to take advantage of any trad-


(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23)
home. Carnival is among the
main attractions.
 Yet Christmas is not the
only time Caribbean people
ship goodies home. The period
just before school opens in the
region mainly August is
popular. Easter is another busy
period for shipping. They also
target special events in the
region like Cricket World
Cup 2007 to stock up on
goods via shipping.


ing opportunities that might
open up in Europe.
 "Right now we in
WINFA, the farmers, have
been investing in a small joint
agro processing project, we


 Meanwhile, Edun explained
that while the busiest season for
shipping to the Caribbean has
just kicked off, he has no doubt
it is already welcomed by the
people from the region.
 "Families in the Caribbean
look forward to the stuff," he
said.

Gordon Williams is Caribbean
Today's managing editor.
0


 He said he believed the
regions' best interest was not
represented in the current
draft and to foster the region's
development special and def-
erential treatment provision


I ,f I I j.-


ing between the islands need improvement.

 are the registered Fair Trade
 producers for banana, but we
 want to have fair trade
 smoothie, jams, juices and jel-
 lies, but to meet European
 standards there are certain
 rigid standards," Rose told
 the hundreds of farmers, rep-
 resentatives of non govern-
 mental organizations and
 Vincentians gathered for the
 event.
 "We want the necessary
 financial and technical assis-
 tance to develop that capaci-
 ty."
 Christopher Sinckler of
 the Caribbean Policy
 Development Centre, who
 also addressed the rally, said
 there were a number of
 "major issues to be resolved
 and there are still some con-
 cerns and questions whether
 the regions are going to meet
 that January 31st deadline."


must be written into an EPA
agreement.
 European Union trade
negotiators said last month
that they were not IL,.In-
rolling" ACP states to com-
plete negotiations for the new
EPA deal by year-end, and
denied suggestions that the
new arrangement would hurt
the region.
0


Beginning this month,
 Crowley Maritime
 Corporation's liner serv-
ices group will enhance its
service to the Caribbean
islands with the addition of
two new, bigger, faster contain-
er ships the "Eclips" and
"Ocean".
 Each ship offers more
capacity and twice the number
of reefer plugs about 160 -
than the "Sea Gale" and "Sea
Cloud", the ships they are
replacing.
 Running at about 18.5
knots, the new ships are about
two knots faster, which should
result in even better transit
times and schedule integrity.
 "These new ships will ben-
efit our customers in a number
of ways," said Rudy Leming,
Crowley's vice president of
Caribbean islands services in a
recently issued press release by
the company.
 "First, we're going to be
better equipped to handle cus-
tomers' need for space during
the peak season and beyond -
this includes reefer cargo,
because we'll have about twice
the number of shipboard plugs.
Second, the speed of the ves-
sels will allow us to provide
improved schedule integrity
with earlier southbound
arrivals in St. Thomas and St.
Croix, plus we're able to add a
northbound stop in St. Thomas
to offload Trinidad and
Barbados cargoes."
 Crowley's weekly, fixed-day
Caribbean islands service


includes vessel calls in
Jacksonville on Tuesdays, Port
Everglades Thursdays, St.
Thomas Sundays, St. Croix
Monday, Trinidad Tuesdays,
St. Vincent Thursdays,
Barbados Thursdays, and St.
Thomas northbound on Fridays
before returning to Jacksonville.
Relay services from St. Thomas
is provided to Anguilla,
Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis,
Saba, St. Barts, St. Eustatius, St.
John, St. Kitts, St. Maarten,
Tortola and Virgin Gorda.

RELAY
 Relay service from
Barbados includes Martinique
and Guadeloupe; while relay
service to Canouan, Bermuda
and Tobago is provided as
needed from St. Vincent,
Jacksonville and Trinidad
respectively.
 Crowley's Caribbean
island services allow customers
to ship groceries, department
store merchandise, building
materials, refrigerated and
frozen goods, household
goods, vehicles and Freight of
All Kinds (FAK) in a variety
of equipment including 20-foot
standard and 40-foot standard
and high-cube containers,
reefers, flat racks and other
specialized equipment.
 Jacksonville-based
Crowley Maritime Corporation,
founded in San Francisco in
1892, is a privately held family
and employee-owned company.
0


Port Louis Grenada launches sailina festival


More than 200 per-
 sons from Grenada
 and the rest of the
Caribbean joined the Port
Louis Grenada Sailing
Festival team and new spon-
sors Port Louis Grenada at
the Victory Bar, for the
bi,_,L.,I pre-event celebration
in the history of the festival
last month.
 Among those in atten-
dance were Minister of
Works Brenda Hood;
Minister of Private Sector
Development Einstein
Louison; festival Chairman
Jimmy Bristol and his team
and Peter de Savary, chair-
man and founder of Savvy
Grenada.
 Cocktails and cham-
pagne were followed by
speeches as Hood, Bristol
and de Savary all endorsed
the festival and committed to
developing it into one of the
best in the world. Both gov-
ernment and the festival
committee members compli-


Peter de Savary, chairman of Port Louis, second left, is joined by, from left, Vivian
Burkhardt, Miss Grenada World 2007; Jennifer Hosten, and Grenadian yachtsman
Peter "Champie" Evans, during the launch of the sailing festival.


mented Port Louis Grenada
for making a long term com-
mitment three years to
sponsoring the event.
 The Port Louis Grenada
Sailing Festival is scheduled


for Jan. 25-29, 2008.
 Port Louis Grenada, a
creation of de Savary, is an
EC$1.5 billion maritime vil-
lage and marina.
0


ey introduces faster


to Caribbean islands


Christmas rush is on for cargo

 shipping to the Caribbean


October 2007