The General Manager of the Samoa Shipping Corporation, Papali’i Willie Nansen, last night responded to an open appeal to the Minister and the Board of the Samoa Shipping Corporation (S.S.C).
The appeal was made by Aana Alofi No. 3 Member of Parliament, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, with regards to the cost of shipping cargo to American Samoa.
According to the Member of Parliament, such a cost is “daylight robbery.”
But Papali’i dismissed the claim, asking instead: “Who’s robbing who here?”
Just as Toeolesulusulu’s letter was published in full, Papali’i’s response is also published in full below:
S.S.C REPONDS TO “M.P SEEKS HELP OVER DAYLIGHT ROBBERY”
S.S.C acknowledge the article titled MP seeks help over “dayl ight robbery” on the front page of the Samoa Observer on Tuesday, 25th November 2014 and wish to comment and make clarification regarding the contents of this article for the sake of our Customers and Partners.
1. S.S.C can confirm that the charge of .50 sene per pound is the basis of our charge we use to calculate the freight for all cargoes that are shipped to American Samoa from Apia onboard MV Lady Naomi. The charge of .50 sene per pound was officially approved by Cabinet on the 12 November 2008 and came into effect as of 01 December 2008 till now which is some six years ago in case the M.P. may not be aware of as this in not something new despite the escalation cost of fuel and other factors which warrants an increase.
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2. The charge of $30 ($25 handling + $5 documentation fee) claimed by the M.P. is the handling fee we charge for his shipment which is the norm for every shipping company as these are the charges for carting cargoes for loading and unloading onto the vessel using our forklift and crew and also the administration fee for handling the documentation etc. So for example the M.P’s shipment under the name of Nicole Wilson, the total weight for his 5 pallet was 3,584 pounds @ .50 sene = $1,792 + $30 (handling fee) = $1,822 which was the total charge we issue the bill of lading for. This is the basis of the calculation we charge everyone across the board for using this service.
3. S.S.C can confirm that we DON’T charge the pallet for its weight nor for a fare as claimed by the M.P. but what we can confirm is that you pay for the use of the pallet which is built-in as part of the handling fee and that is called the user-pay methodology whereas you use it, you pay for it.
4. The comparison made by the M.P. that the cost of shipping taro and other exports to be sold in American Samoa are paying more per pound than the cost of shipping a container from New Zealand or America is INCORRECT.
The cost for shipping a container from America to Samoa is USD $4,200 (ST $10,374) whilst the cost for shipping a container from New Zealand to Samoa is NZD $3,960 (ST7,722). Unfortunately, these are not the only costs as there are other additional charges associated for handling, hauling, cleaning etc.
when the container landed in Apia apart from wharfage and duty.
Overall, there were shippers from Samoa when we first implement the increase in 2008 who went and tried out shipping their products using containers to American Samoa. Unfortunately, they found the exercise very inconvenient and costly hence their return using MV Lady Naomi’s services.
5. According to the article’s second to last paragraph, the MP expressed a concern as quoted; “ By making the reduction on the prices you will also reduce the chances of corruption that has probably been happening as shippers collude with staff so that they get a cheaper cost while the staff get kickback”
We acknowledge wholeheartedly the M.P’s insinuation and concern regarding the above but what makes us hard to believe and accept is when he himself turned around and did exactly that.
He told our staff to charge his shipment half price and encourage them to take the other half for their personal use; “ae o le a le mea e le totogi fa’aafa ai la’u uta ona ave lea o leisi afa ma le Kamupani ae ave leisi afa ma oulua”. We have staffs who can vouch for this statement made by the MP and also those who witnessed it.
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