For Immediate Release: Castries, St. Lucia, January 8, 2025

Chamber Facilitates Dialogue among Police, SLASPA and Truckers

The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture convened a critical meeting with key stakeholders, including the St. Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA), Royal St. Lucia Police Force (RSLPF), and representatives of the trucking sector, to address growing traffic congestion and operational inefficiencies linked to Port Castries.

The meeting, chaired by Mr. Louisy Executive Director of the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce highlighted the pressing need for solutions to alleviate congestion caused by trucks queuing on streets near the Port. The Chamber emphasized the importance of collaborative approaches that balance efficient port operations, traffic management, and the interests of all stakeholders.

SLASPA’s Director of Sea Port’s Adrain Hilaire, detailed operational challenges such as limited port space, delays in container movement, and congestion impacting vehicle flow. The Police highlighted the negative effects of illegal truck parking on city traffic and reiterated their commitment to restoring order. Truckers raised concerns about delays caused by limited queuing options, inefficiencies in container release systems, and long waiting times.

Following robust discussions, several actionable recommendations were agreed upon:

• SLASPA to     Immediate work to make the Banan’s Bay Area a Queuing Zone for Truckers
• Seriously     explore implementing night container collection to reduce daytime     congestion.
• Establishing     designated queuing zones in the north and south for truckers.
• Redirecting     southern-bound containers to Vieux Fort Sea Port.
• Improving     scheduling systems for container pickup to minimize arbitrary delays and     congestion on streets caused by long queuing hours
• Expediting     container delivery for truckers who meet all requirements.

TheChamber and SLASPA will work together to explore immediate solutions, includingand most particularly by SLASPA the utilizing of Banan’s Bay for temporaryqueuing and also on convening a high-level meeting with the Customs &Excise Department and other related government agencies to address operationalchallenges.

TheChamber remains committed to fostering collaboration among all parties toensure practical, sustainable solutions that support national development and athriving business environment as it works towards a shared and sustainableprosperity for St. Lucia.  

For Further information Contact: BrianLouisy, 423165 or info@stluciachamber.org

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