Problems between employers and labor unions at major U.S. West Coast seaports have caused a slowdown in movement of food supplies, and resulted in major delays in the arrival of container ships in Pago Pago, creating a shortage of basic food supplies — like eggs — for the community and federal programs, according to David Robinson, chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Such delay of supplies has also affected the private sector, and contributed to a possible decrease in ASG excise tax revenues, as well as incidents of price gouging  (which— if occurring — Robinson urges residents to report to local authorities. )

Samoa News has received inquiries and concerns from residents regarding the shortage of basic food supplies on store shelves, and businesses awaiting supplies and equipment for their operations.

One such member of the private sector impacted with the delays is Tri Marine International, which had initially set the inauguration of its $70 million Samoa Tuna Processors Inc., cannery for last month, but due to delays in equipment being shipped, the inauguration was postponed to Jan. 24.

Tri Marine’s chief executive officer Renato Curto says the company is still waiting for containers to arrive with equipment, and therefore the cannery operations have been delayed — for about two more weeks.

Samoa News should point out that a container ship arrived last Friday but it's unclear if it brought the needed equipment for Tri Marine and food supplies for local stores.

Asked for comments on the shipping delay and the impact on Chamber members and other businesses in the community, Robinson told Samoa News that the labor problems with the longshoremen on the West Coast “are starting to have a significant effect on our community, problems which raise some important issues for our Administration to address.”

He said the labor issues “highlight our over dependence on imported goods such as eggs, milk, meat products, chicken, bottled water, flour and many dry goods which run at over 95% of imports from off island,” and questioned as to what has happened to the many suggestions and studies recommending import replacements for a range of agricultural products.

He said that it may be economical and quicker in some cases to import goods from New Zealand and Australia where food quality is normally assured — but in the case of meat products from these countries, they must be approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and certified by an Inspector — who now has to be flown in from Hawai’i unlike the previous years when there was a full time permanently based inspector located on the main dock.

Apart from food shortages, there have been problems for companies such as Samoa Tuna Processors, he said and recalled Curto’s statement at the inauguration, that the cannery’s official opening was changed, due to delay in shipping processing equipment from the Los Angeles/ Long Beach ports.

ASG REVENUES

“Another aspect for the Administration to be concerned about is the potential shortfall in revenue collections from excise tax if imports continue to arrive at a much lower level than was originally budgeted,” Robinson noted.

Furthermore, “exports from the canneries will be affected if consignments cannot be off loaded at West Coast ports and this could lead to a decline in production and a resultant lay off of some of the [local] work force, causing more hardship in the community,” he said.

He acknowledged that there appears to be little that can be done by the Administration to alleviate the labor problems, as they are problems which should be resolved by employers and unions in the US.

“What could be an option is to look for ways in which federal assistance could be obtained to reduce the potentially high cost of a regular weekly airfreight arrangement to import essential food stuffs from the mainland. Perhaps advice could be sought from the Office of Insular Affairs in DC,” he suggests.

PRICE GOUGING

With the shortage of food supplies, there is a concern from the Chamber of possible  price gouging occurring in American Samoa, and he urged the community to report possible incidents to the local authorities.

“We should, as a community, be vigilant in reporting any incidents of price gouging by retailers who might be tempted to cash in on the present difficult supply situation,” he recommends, adding that  “we should hope and pray that a resolution to the labor problems will be found very soon and... supply of essential food items will soon be back to normal.”

American Samoa has a law against “price gouging” — a practice which occurs when businesses hike the cost of goods, but it only applies if an “emergency declaration” has been issued by the governor following a disaster.

The first and the last time cases of price gouging landed in court was in November 2009, following the September earthquake and tsunami that same year, when stores were accused of hiking their prices by up to 20% for some basic food items.