The union of exporters has reported losses of $145 million, and more than 12,000 shipping containers held up because of the blockades which have now been going on for more than a week.
Reports indicate that two shipping companies have suspended operations at the ports and announced they will not disembark because of "inability to ensure the safety of their staff."This is just one example of the serious damage caused to in the country by the blockades and demonstrations held by truckers for almost a week at customs offices and ports in Guatemala.
Guatemala carriers have blocked passage through customs posts at Pedro de Alvarado, Jutiapa, in protest against the excessive slowness of procedures for entering El Salvador.
The slowness of customs formalities as a result of the computer system crash caused some 300 carriers to form a blockade using their trucks from Sunday February 28th on the route to the customs office in Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado, located in Moyuta, in the Guatemalan department of Jutiapa, on the border with El Salvador.
The union has exhausted dialogue with the regional government of Chiriqui and is a blockading the border preventing the movement of freight carriers in Central America.
The provincial government in Chiriqui has failed to prevent Panamanian carriers, organized by the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation in Panama, (Canatraca) from indefinitely blocking the passage of trucks across the border in Paso Canoas (information at time of going to press at 3:30 p.m).
Now we transport thousands of tons of goods in fast trucks, we dispatch proformas and invoices online ... and there are still customs agencies.
EDITORIAL
The controversy which arose in Guatemala over the proposed creation of the Agile Import Window (VAI by its initials in Spanish) is as old as the world.
The authorities at customs offices in Guatemala and Honduras have opened new routes for regional transit of goods between the two countries.
The aim of the opening of new routes at the borders between the two countries, in El Florido and Agua Caliente, is to streamline regional trade which has been blocked because of the protests over the application of a fee of $18 in Salvadoran customs offices for X-ray inspection of trucks.
Central American companies are asking the Salvadoran government to intervene in the conflict, which is already generating huge losses.
Legislation in the region allows customs offices to design nonintrusive inspection methods, but these should not generate arrears in clearance or excessive costs which obstruct the free movement of goods, services and people.
They are supporting Costa Rica in the dispute it has with El Salvador over the lack of respect for the DR -CAFTA and they are requesting action to be taken to end the paralysis of intraregional trade at Salvadoran customs offices.
The Federation of Chambers and Associations of Exporters in Central America (Fecaxca) is proposing that the fee of $18 being charged at customs offices in El Salvador be only imposed on goods which have the country as a final destination, and not everything that passes through Salvadoran territory which may be destined for other Central American countries.
Only cargo destined for El Salvador should be charged with the $18 fee for the inspection with scanner, request freight carriers.
According to the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), this fee violates conventions and trade agreements in the region. In addition, they believe that the inspections and the time it takes to submit all shipments to the procedures are excessive.
The regional union of freight carriers is protesting about the fee for inspections using scanners at Salvadoran customs offices and the delays it has generated.
The Central American Freight Council declared a protest strike at Salvadoran borders over the payment of $18 for the inspection of cargo travelling overland.
The legislature has passed a special scheme for fast entry of goods into the country, for a 30 day period.
The measure seeks to reward those importers who have incurred losses the week long closure of several border posts because of a strike by customs workers.
The Salvadoran border closure is affecting not only the local industry but also neighboring countries with losses of millions of dollars.
Since last Tuesday, the strike at the borders which led to the cessation of domestic trade, has also affected regional trade.
"The blockade has generated, since that day, the paralysis of trade, not only locally but also regionally, as trucks could not transport import and export products. In the various border posts lines of trucks formed over five kilometres long. More than 4,000 trucks with goods have been stranded, with the consequent loss of 86 to 100 dollars per day for each transport unit, which arso at risk of theft", reports Elsalvador.com.
Officials at the Ministry of Finance and Customs have kept customs offices at a standstill for the third day running.
Business groups are concerned about the extent of the emergency measure which has generated large economic losses for businesses.
Laprensagrafica.com reports, "At the customs border posts of El Poy, El Amatillo, The Chinamas and The Hachadura, staff of the National Civil Police (PNC) was deployed during the morning to streamline administrative processes and prevent transit through them being further affected.
Salvadoran business associations are calling for dialogue and rapid lifting of the strike in order to avoid generating further losses and a possible 'stagnation of exports'.
The vice president of the Miramar zone, Ricardo Avila, reported that none of customs offices in the free zones are operating.
Goods vehicles can not pass through customs posts at the Salvadoran border, where Treasury officials are on strike.
Various business groups have expressed concern about the strike, which is causing serious economic losses for businesses.
Regarding this, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in El Salvador states that "We have learned from our partners that the suspension of customs duties has already begun to generate losses of perishable products, delays in delivery times and possible shortages of basic goods, especially vegetables from other countries in the region and those that supply El Salvador. "
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