SENATOR Paul A. Manglona wants the Commonwealth Ports Authority to explain the “calamitous” situation at the Rota seaport that, he said, is “causing the island’s residents to pay exorbitant costs for basic commodities.”
In his letter to CPA Executive Director Christopher Tenorio, the Rota senator expressed his concerns about CPA’s decisions over the years “that have contributed largely to the unfortunate reality that Rota residents must pay significantly exorbitant costs, compared to other CNMI residents, for essential basic commodities including construction materials, farming equipment, house appliances, and everyday grocery needs.”
He said according to the Department of Commerce, the consumer price index between April 2021 and April 2022 indicated that inflation caused retail price increases for all CNMI residents. On Rota, he added, housing and utilities cost increased by 11%, medical cost by 11.3% and food by 8%.
Inflation aside, Manglona said, “there remains a tremendous disparity as to consumer prices and routine household costs between Rota and the rest of the CNMI.”
The senator attributed this disparity to the “exorbitant cost of shipping and offloading goods” at Rota’s seaport.
He said according to importers, it costs $7,000 to ship a 20-foot cargo container approximately 56 miles, from Guam’s Apra Harbor to Rota West Harbor.
Manglona said these importers have to pay one entity, Rota Terminal and Transfer Inc. or RTT, which, since April 1986, was granted by CPA “exclusive, monopolistic, authority to occupy West Harbor facilities for stevedoring services.”
“Regardless of blame or fault, this scenario has adversely and unfairly impacted Rota consumers over many years and even more so in recent years,” said Manglona, who has been a senator since 1988.
He said on April 14, 2023, M/V Super Emerald, a 65-feet long cargo vessel that periodically moors at East Harbor, sought to enter Rota West Harbor to offload cargo in the basin area south of CPA’s terminal to avoid RTT’s terminal fees and stevedoring rates, which “for many years have been described as arbitrary, inconsistent, often inaccurate, sometimes contrived, and exorbitantly higher than other local stevedores.”
Manglona said this scenario has “long been exacerbated by RTT’s reputed inability or unwillingness to provide or make public, its terminal fees and stevedore rate. The company divulges the charges only during or after the cargo is offloaded at West Harbor.”
The senator wants to know if CPA has adequately monitored RTT’s compliance with its lease terms, which he said “appears dubious.”
Manglona said his office may address this “calamitous” situation at Rota seaport through the reorganization of CNMI port control, legislative protection at Rota seaports and “other means to reduce the exorbitant consumer prices on Rota.”
Manglona asked the CPA executive director for a written response to the senator’s concerns; a copy of the lease agreement between CPA and RTT; and other document pertaining to CPA’s transactions with RTT.
Paul Manglona
