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Container loaded with food items for export goes missing
TANEISHA LEWIS, Observer staff reporter editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 01, 2008
A container laden with food items to be exported has been stolen from the Newport Commercial Centre on Newport Boulevard in Kingston.
Christopher Kennedy, managing director of Eagle and Whale Limited, the company which was preparing the container for export, told the Observer that the 40-foot container was stolen from the complex between 6:30 Monday evening and 7:00 Tuesday morning.
The company is offering a $200,000 reward for the return of the container and the goods.
"We are in shock because we have been loading containers here for the last three years and we never had this problem before," he said.
Kennedy said the thieves appeared to be brazen, as they made off with the container which was placed metres away from the Newport West Police Station, which is also located at the Newport Commercial Centre.
Kennedy said the container was loaded Monday evening and was scheduled to be picked up by a trucking company for export to the United States the following morning.
He said it contained 360 cases of tinned ackees, 500 cases of banana chips, 300 cases of biscuits and 75 cases of dry seasoning and was locked and chained for security purposes.
"The chains were cut," he said.
Yesterday, the police said the theft was being investigated, but they had no leads.
In the meantime, Kennedy told the Observer that he was reliably informed that some of the items were already being sold by vendors in downtown Kingston.
"We know for certain that the banana chips being sold are from the container because we had to order them from Jamaica Best," he said.
According to Kennedy, it was not the first thime that a container had gone missing. He said the Caribstar Shipping Limited, the company which ships ZIM containers, indicated that they lose at least two containers every year.
TANEISHA LEWIS, Observer staff reporter editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 01, 2008
A container laden with food items to be exported has been stolen from the Newport Commercial Centre on Newport Boulevard in Kingston.
Christopher Kennedy, managing director of Eagle and Whale Limited, the company which was preparing the container for export, told the Observer that the 40-foot container was stolen from the complex between 6:30 Monday evening and 7:00 Tuesday morning.
The company is offering a $200,000 reward for the return of the container and the goods.
"We are in shock because we have been loading containers here for the last three years and we never had this problem before," he said.
Kennedy said the thieves appeared to be brazen, as they made off with the container which was placed metres away from the Newport West Police Station, which is also located at the Newport Commercial Centre.
Kennedy said the container was loaded Monday evening and was scheduled to be picked up by a trucking company for export to the United States the following morning.
He said it contained 360 cases of tinned ackees, 500 cases of banana chips, 300 cases of biscuits and 75 cases of dry seasoning and was locked and chained for security purposes.
"The chains were cut," he said.
Yesterday, the police said the theft was being investigated, but they had no leads.
In the meantime, Kennedy told the Observer that he was reliably informed that some of the items were already being sold by vendors in downtown Kingston.
"We know for certain that the banana chips being sold are from the container because we had to order them from Jamaica Best," he said.
According to Kennedy, it was not the first thime that a container had gone missing. He said the Caribstar Shipping Limited, the company which ships ZIM containers, indicated that they lose at least two containers every year.
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