I haven’t met anyone who supports how the island’s truckers are going about punishing citizens to force their way into Port Castries.
They parked container trucks to hinder highway traffic on Wednesday and drove slowly through the city on Thursday, blasting horns and jamming smaller vehicles, menacing pedestrians in an already jam-packed city – and threatening to continue until their demands are met.
One would have thought that instead of embarking on such wildcat actions, the truckers’ association would have formally engaged with the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA) and the Global Ports Holding (GPH) now redeveloping the island’s major ports.
One would also have thought that, if the truckers sought and got police permission for a protest, it would not have been for those distasteful displays of deliberate disruption of traffic and carefree, ceaseless emission of noise pollution in and around the city.
Once upon a time, organizations planning street protests had to seek police permission and outline their intended times and routes, to ensure traffic officers can keep public order.
But it would appear this is no longer the case.
After all, what the truckers did in and to the citizens of Castries this week, was a way-off way to drive their point home.
Instead of engaging with the related port entities, they decided to punish citizens.
Everyone accepts their vital role transporting the containers that keep trade going and the economy booming.
But none of what they did on the streets, roads and highways earlier this week won them public support for trying to force SLASPA or GPH to sit and talk with them.
As with every problem, there’s always a history to also be taken into account – in this case, about how-long container traffic has been a problem in the city.
Many blue moons ago, when containerization started with the upgrading of Port Castries in 1970, moving containers around the city required small streets and narrow roads be closed to traffic — for as long as it took to offload.
It was so-bad back then that the then John Compton administration (before independence) issued a public order banning container traffic in Castries ‘between 6am and 6pm’.
But the government was quickly forced to revoke the decision after the ruling party’s financiers and supporters in the trucking business and the private sector protested, citing costs of overtime payments to workers ‘for night work’.
Back then, the island boasted less than 20% of the container trucks on the roads today.
Today too, the problem persists with businesses marking-off their own private parking and offloading zones and limiting parking space for the ever-growing number of private and mainly used vehicles being imported monthly.
Parking problems have beleaguered Castries for decades, with no restrictions on vehicle imports, which contribute directly to stifling congestion on the wharves.
The Customs & Excise Department has been going heads-over-heels to get importers of private vehicles to clear them, some left on the wharf for years by recalcitrant importers unwilling to pay the duty and other taxes due.
The current redevelopment of the island’s ports must take into consideration parking space for container trucks and trailers.
But the truckers cannot expect to just ram their way into the wharves, on their own terms and without engagement and constant communications.
SLASPA and GPH both said this week they’re ready to work with ‘stakeholders’ to address their problems, but the truckers seem to think they can crash their way through the Port Authority’s gates by punishing citizens and disrupting city traffic.
Everyone hears the truckers’ complaints, but (as per usual) not much is being said about addressing the roots of the problem multiplicity of connected problems — of which they are also part.
It’s become habitable, for instance, for the truckers to simply park their trucks and trailers — with and without containers — along streets and highways, posing danger to citizens and visitors alike.
Parking meters placed around the city have never worked and are still costing citizens a pretty penny.
Private vehicle owners simply refuse to use the government’s car parking facility in Conway (above Massy), preferring to break the law by parking on yellow lines in restricted spaces and chance being fined by traffic police.
Similarly, private importers of used vehicles for sale increasingly simply park them at strategic places along roadsides, displaying ‘For Sale’ signs and contact numbers.
And almost everyone – including land owners who can build garages — wants to park their vehicles on public roads, just outside their home’s doors, steps or gates.
More vehicles on the same small roads is a sure recipe for the disasters being faced with daily traffic flows between Castries and Gros Islet, at minibus stands and through the city’s streets.
Traffic lights still work, but are increasingly ignored by more drivers; motorcyclists (and passengers behind them) ride without helmets – and many question whether the police CCTV cameras are working, or being monitored.
With the island’s two major cargo ports being developed to cater for increasing trade volumes, a container depot is an absolute necessity – to start with.
Space is available in and between Castries and Vieux Fort for both container depots and connected holding areas for trucks, where containers are safely and easily stored and truckers can ply their trade.
The truckers need patience and understanding and should not punish citizens, pedestrians and other drivers.
This simply makes no sense — and after attracting the deserving wrath of the citizenry, the truckers and their association will sit and review the effectiveness of their actions.
After all, citizens do have a right to walk and drive freely in an already overly congested City of Castries, but which right the truckers insist on violating – with impunity.
Meanwhile, the truckers can start by starting to invest in creating their own private spaces for the increasing numbers of trucks and trailers they’re importing as they keep building their fleets.