With its current contract to support oil and gas activities set to expire in November, Ramps Logistics is still to receive word on the status of its local content certification.
Weeks after submitting amendments to its application to the Local Content Secretariat, Chief Executive Officer of Ramps Logistics Guyana, Shaun Rampersad said the last update they received by phone call was that the application is still being reviewed.
Director of the Local Content Secretariat (LCS) Martin Pertab on Friday told Stabroek News that the application remains in the review process. He pointed out that the officers within the secretariat are currently reviewing all applications.
Ramps Logistics, which started operating in Guyana in 2013 won the contract to provide freight forwarding and supply chain management services to ExxonMobil Guyana in 2018. It had responded to a public tender for the project.
Under the existing contract the company facilitates logistics for vessels between Guyana and Trinidad, customs brokerage, clearing of equipment and cargo coming through local ports among other function.
With the contract up for renewal by the end of this year, they stand a chance of not being in a position to bid since they were initially denied their local content certification.
Other companies, which provide services similar to Ramps have already received their local content certification.
According to the local content register, available online, companies such as Crane Worldwide Logistics (Guyana), Falcon Logistics Inc., Guyana Logistics & Support Services Inc., N&S Algoo Licensed Customs Brokerage Services Inc., Oceanair Logistics Inc., V and W Logistics Inc., Vista Trading & Logistics Inc. and Western Logistics Guyana Inc. among others have been listed as local content certified.
Ramps Logistics Guyana currently employs 398 Guyanese.
Guyana’s Local Content legislation states that the Secretariat must publish its registers. “The Secretariat shall cause the Local Content Registers to be published on the website of the ministry responsible for petroleum or any other media of wide circulation,” the law states. Companies which were “supplying goods or providing services to the petroleum sector,” prior to the enactment of the Local Content law had up to the end of June 2022 to submit their documents and be issued with their certification.
The Local Content Secretariat outlines documentation to be submitted by a Guyanese national or Guyanese company registering with the Secretariat in support of their application. According to the agency’s mandate, it “aims to ensure the prioritisation of Guyanese nationals and Guyanese companies in the procurement of goods and services for the enhancement of the value chain of the petroleum sector and to enable local capacity development.”
Ramps amended its application after the LCS denied it its local content certification. Pertab, in his letter explaining the rationale behind the decision, had identified a number of areas in which the company failed to satisfy the requirements for certification.
In the June 27 correspondence to the company, in response to an application made on April 12, Pertab stated, “Upon a review of that application, the information submitted were found to be insufficient for a proper compliance evaluation to be done by the Secretariat in accordance with the requirements of the Act.”
Pertab’s letter, seen by this newspaper, identified a number of grounds on which the Ramps application was denied, among which were questionable documents which did not clearly state the amendments to incorporation and the failure to have their executive board of directors be 75 per cent Guyanese.
The reasons came after days of silence despite repeated requests by Ramps for an explanation for the denial. The response which was provided to Ramps’ attorneys, Satram and Satram, came two weeks after an initial letter was sent requesting the reasons for the decision taken against Ramps Logistics Guyana.
Pertab, in his correspondence, had informed the law firm that while an applicant is free to seek reasons on the grounds of their application being denied, the Secretariat will “respond as soon as reasonably practical.” He further reminded the company’s attorneys that under the Act, submitting false or misleading information for the issuance of a certificate of qualification to be registered on a Local Content Register is an offence which is punishable by a fine of $10,000,000 on summary conviction.
In a brief statement after the rejection of the application, Ramps Logistics said that it was looking forward to working together with the LCS to promptly resolve this situation. However, when the company submitted its amendments, its attorneys argued that the rationale provided by the LCS was not in keeping with the powers conferred on it. Writing directly to Pertab, the law firm contended that Ramps Logistics has at all times satisfied the requirements of the Act for registration as a local company.
“We do not concede that your requests and/or demands are lawful and in keeping with powers conferred upon the Secretariat by the Local Content Act. We also do not accept and/or concede that the reasons offered by you on behalf of the Secretariat are relevant, adequate or justify the refusal of registration to the Applicant. Our client has decided to meet your demands entirely in the interest of expediency and in an effort to secure timely registration under the Act,” the attorneys argued in a three-page response to the LCS Director.
The company in its new documents provided to the secretariat, shared a copy of the Resignation of Rudy Rampersad, the Notice of Change of Directors, the Notice of Change of Secretary, and the relevant Resolution of the Board of Directors.
“In the spirit of an early resolution of the issues which were raised in your letter, our client has complied with all your demands even though, in our view, your requests are outside of the parameters of the powers vested in the Secretariat under the Act… We anticipate that the registration would now be granted without delay,” the letter concluded.
