By CLEOPATRA MURPHY
Freeport News
The Grand Bahama Air Couriers Association are expected to meet with Acting Comptroller of Customs Glenn Gomez today to discuss new Customs procedures that have resulted in at least one of them deciding that it is now too costly to remain in that line of business.
Edward Barrett, president and owner of Sapona Imports, confirmed yesterday that representatives for the association and Gomez will meet privately at 8:30 a.m. to discuss the new procedures implemented in late July with the hopes of arriving at a resolution that will benefit all parties.
Still, the meeting may have come too late to save GB Express, which has operated on Grand Bahama for the past 12 years.
Bob Clutter, co-owner of the company, said that as of now he still intends to close the company on August 15, which will leave 17 of his employees out of jobs.
Clutter noted that the introduction of the Customs C-13 form (customs unaccompanied baggage form) on July 20 has made it more difficult for his company and other air couriers to conduct business.
He said the forms force customers to hire a broker whose services can range anywhere from $80 to $100, eventually incurring higher costs for them.
Meanwhile, Barrett exp-lained that these additional costs can hike the price of a book that normally landed and cleared through customs at $30.49 to an astonishing $120.49.
Clutter noted that these changes have had a drastic effect on the courier industry and the public is now reluctant to do business with them.
"It has pushed the cost beyond the acceptable limit and our customer base is not in the position to absorb the extra $50 to $80 per item," Clutter said. "It has crippled business, to put it in very simple words."
The meeting with the acting comptroller of customs has been long awaited by air couriers on the island. Barrett told The Freeport News during a press conference two weeks ago that the association had made attempts to communicate with Minister of State for finance Zhivargo Laing in the hopes that he would be able to arrange a "sit down" with Gomez.
Clutter, who said he feels his company can be saved if the meeting facilitated a return to the old procedures, noted that it is unlikely. He said he feels the government has gone too far at this point and he does not envision there being a complete turnaround.
However, he said if there is any way that an agreement can be met in which parcels are landed at the airport, the duty can be paid and the products handed over to the customer while ensuring that the government gets the customs duties, it would be to the benefit of everyone.
"What we've got to do is recognize that the system needs to be changed and in the interim, create some type of policy that the system can operate with," Clutter said.
He noted that if something along this line were to happen following the association's meeting with Gomez, GB Express can possibly be saved.
"That's our goal," he said. "I've got 17 employees on this side and the other side that are sweating bullets today."
He noted that time is winding down and the issue needs to be resolved in a way that allows everyone to win.
The present conditions, he said, puts everyone at a loss — couriers as well as the government.
"If the customer pays more, we lose our customers and the country doesn't get their duties," Clutter said.
