CPA continues investigation into Rota cargo complaints

Kimberlyn King Hinds

The Commonwealth Ports Authority continues to look into complaints regarding the way Rota Terminal and Transfer handled cargo from Guam to Rota, which allegedly resulted in four containers filled with goods not making it to Rota vendors.

Last week, Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) asked the Commonwealth Ports Authority to investigate the alleged mishandling of four containers filled with goods that were shipped from Guam to Rota.

According to Manglona, despite being given advance notice of the arrival of M/V Tamaw Voyage V—the vessel that was used to transport 15 containers filled with goods from Guam to Rota—RTT only unloaded 11 containers, leaving the remaining four to be returned to Guam.

“This left multiple business owners, and the Rota community, to shake their heads in dismay as RTT personnel never offloaded the four remaining containers which, instead, remained aboard and were returned to Guam. This left Rota vendors with zero to show for their efforts other than shipping bills for cargo shipped but never unloaded. Will RTT compensate the vendors? Will the CPA?” he asked.

Manglona also added that RTT has had a longstanding pattern of similar failings that have allegedly gone unpenalized and he is asking that CPA investigate the matter.

In an interview with CPA chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds, she did confirm that issues with RTT in relation to shipping has always been a concern for the Rota community.

“The issue with the RTT as it relates to shipping has been a longstanding concern by the community of Rota. Really, it is something we regularly monitor with regards to their compliance with the agreement that we have with them for the exclusive stevedoring license on Rota,” she said.

As for this recent incident, King-Hinds said CPA has looked into the matter and learned that RTT was unable to unload the remaining four containers due to harsh water conditions.

“The most recent concern with regard to the four containers that were supposedly not unloaded, that concern has been raised by Sen. Paul to CPA for us to further look into and throughout the course of this week or so, we’ve been receiving inconsistent communications to include emails from SeaBridge, basically stating that the issue with the unloading of the four containers was a result of the conditions of the water. This was also confirmed by folks at Saipan Shipping. There was also communications from the actual crane operator himself who stated that those were the reasons,” she said.

King-Hinds said CPA continues to monitor the situation but also wants to ensure that RTT can continue to provide its stevedoring services to Rota.

“These are the things we continue to monitor because we want ensure that that service is provided on a regular basis to the community of Rota,” she said.