Dear Editor,
I am a business owner in Georgetown and I believe the decision of the police to restrict container movement to late hours is a terrible one for the business community. We are already burdened by high shipping costs and long delays in getting our containers. Now we have to pay a lot of overtime costs to the port, the customs and our own staff to stay back late and destuff containers. The same staff would have already worked long hours during the day. Now they have to stay back late to empty containers, stock the goods, and then return to work the next day. How are they going to get transportation to get home in these late hours? In addition, there are security risks to businesses opening late. Is the police going to safeguard all these businesses in the late hours, when they have a hard time protecting businesses and people during the best of circumstances? This government has received a lot of praise from the private sector, and rightfully so. But this move by the police force is definitely a slap in the face of hard-working businesses, especially at this very critical time of the year for companies. I urge the authorities to revisit this ill-thought decision.
Sincerely,
(Name and address supplied)
