Thousands of shipping containers have been accumulating at Limassol port as their recipients are either reluctant or unable to pay shipping agents for the deliveries, the acting Limassol harbourmaster said yesterday.

“About 2,500 containers are in storage, compared with the norm of between 1,000 and 1,200,” acting harbourmaster Giorgos Pouros said referring to the expected numbers of containers that are safeguarded in storage until they are picked up.

“Movement has been stagnant in recent days, as people are waiting for the banks to open,” Pouros said.

On an average day, some 200 to 250 containers of shipment get picked up by porters, Pouros said.

But when shipping agents announced on Monday this week that they would only accept payment in cash when porters received a shipment, traffic dropped even further. Just 100 containers were moved out of port on Tuesday, Pouros said.

By early afternoon yesterday porters picked up about 200 containers, Pouros said but added this related to cheaper goods. “Due payments may range from a hundred euros to thousands of euros. The more expensive goods are staying in the port,” Pouros said.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (KEVE) general secretary Marios Tsiakkis said that it was vital the banking system started working again so that goods could be cleared through customs and the market can escape its inertia.

“You know that suppliers are not delivering goods any more unless they’re paid in cash. You understand that cash supply is limited and is not enough to allow transactions among business because big amounts are involved in those,” Tsiakkis said.

As a result, goods are not entering the market, he said.

Tsiakkis said KEVE did not yet receive complaints that products had gone missing but added they were “definitely very close to supermarket stocks running out”.

There have been a number of reports from businesses that are saying their employees will not be paid at the end of the month because they are not receiving payments, the Employers’ and Industrialists Federation has said.

The head of Paphos’ architects and civil engineers association, Chrysostomos Italos, said yesterday that all construction activities came to a standstill about two weeks ago.

The head of Paphos’ recreational centres’ association said that suppliers’ cash-only mandate had created a “chaotic” situation.

Cyprus Mail