Farmers to pay K650 to transport their produce, says Minister

FRESH produce buyers and sellers will now pay K650 as part of the freight component to ship their produce from Lae to Port Moresby following the renewal of contract by the Government with Bismark Maritime Ltd for the shipment of fresh produce.
National Planning Minister Sam Basil made this known yesterday when presenting an additional K3 million to the shipping company under the Fresh Produce Transport Freight Subsidy scheme.
The initial contract worth K3 million ended on Aug 10 after four months.
Bismark Maritime managing director Hamish Sharp said it cost about K2,600 for the shipment of one container.
Minister Basil said the second phase of the freight subsidy scheme would be a 75/25 arrangement in which the Government paid the majority of the freight cost from Lae to Port Moresby for both dry and reefer containers while the other 25 per cent would be met by the shippers.
“We started this programme at the time of the first Covid-19 lockdown and state of emergency period to ship vegetables and agriculture produce that were piling up at Lae wharf,” Basil said.
He said in the first four months of the programme, they executed 14 voyages carrying a total of 912 containers.
This included 629 dry containers carrying sweet potato, taro and other dry goods and 283 reefer containers carrying fresh vegetables, fruits and other perishable produce.
“Each container has the capacity to hold 100 to 110 bags.
“From the statistics that we have been managing over the period, we have shipped over 100,320 bags of fresh produce and vegetables from Lae to Port Moresby with the market value of over K15 million,” Basil said.