Importers have hit back at accusations they are not picking up their goods from the docks, saying they have every reason to get their goods as soon as possible.

Stevedoring Services chairman Henry Hayward told on Wednesday that delays at the docks are caused by importers who are causing congestion by not picking up their merchandise.

However, Sail On owner Hugh Watlington was only one of several importers who told this newspaper he was baffled at the story.

?What, are you kidding?? Mr. Watlington said. ?If we could get our stuff off the docks any faster, we would. Why wouldn?t importers take their stuff off the docks? The Corporation of Hamilton starts charging for storage after five days.?

Sail On orders its retail goods from the US, and the goods are consolidated and put in a container bound for Bermuda.

A manifest identifying the contents and weight of each container is sent to Sail On in Bermuda, which then starts sorting out the paperwork for Customs.

The Customs duty is paid for by the freight trucking company which transports Sail On goods from the docks to the stores, before those goods are actually picked up at the dock.

In theory, that means the trucking company should be able to pick up the goods as soon as they are ready, and hand them over to the stores as quickly as possible.

Some stores do not refund the Customs duty until they are in possession of the goods, one trucking company said. Mr. Watlington confirmed this, adding: ?Until we get it, they have absorbed the cost.?

That, combined with the retailers? eagerness to sell the goods and the fee charged by the Corporation for storage after five days, means both the trucking companies and importers have every financial incentive to get their goods off the docks as soon as possible. When they cannot, Mr. Watlington pointed out: ?That adds yet another cost to goods in Bermuda.

?We pay an awful lot of money for freight, for Stevedoring Services and nothing is getting done as far as I can tell. We missed our stuff for Father?s Day and are wondering if we will make Cup Match.?

Saying it sometimes took up to two weeks to get stuff off the docks, Mr. Watlington said he could not understand why that would be.

Importers which bring in entire containers can remove those containers from the docks immediately and clear them with Customs elsewhere, he said.

However smaller importers such as Sail On which do not bring in entire containers must have their goods unpacked or ?stripped? from the containers and cleared by Customs at the docks, before they can be picked up. Sometimes that can take up to two weeks, Mr. Watlington said. Importers are told that dock workers often have to pause stripping to help cruise ships dock, but he said he could not understand why that would delay the process for two weeks.

One freight trucking company said dock workers also halt work when it is raining.

Their offices call the docks daily to see when goods are ready for pickup, a spokesperson from the company said, and with all the paperwork all ready to go they always try to get the goods either the day they land or the day after.

Stevedoring Services chairperson Henry Hayward said 100 full containers are moved off the docks every day.

But, he added, it is the containers which are stripped that form the backlog. Everything has to be stored in the sheds at the Number Seven and Eight docks ? and if there is no room in the sheds, the containers cannot be stripped.

For example, he said, on Wednesday the Number Seven shed was almost 60 percent full and there were two ships docked waiting for their cargo to be unloaded.

That meant dockworkers would work overtime on Wednesday afternoon and evening to strip containers and put them in the shed.

However at Number Eight dock, where the was docked on Wednesday, the shed was completely full, meaning no containers could be stripped off that night.

There are times when cargo is stuck behind other goods and cannot be picked up, he said, however ?normally any stripped goods can be picked up?.

On occasion newer containers will be stripped before containers which have been on the docks for longer, he said. For example, if there are ships at Number Eight shed with containers to be stripped, but the Number Eight shed is already full, those containers will have to wait.

If a ship then comes in to Number Seven shed, and there is room at that shed, those containers could end up stripped before those at Number Eight shed. ?It varies from week to week ? from hour to hour.?

Though Mr. Hayward recommended importers keep checking on the status of their goods, Mr. Watlington said he was frustrated. ?Nobody is actually in charge,? he said. ?Who is in charge and why aren?t they phoning to say we can?t get the goods off, and explain the problem? This is the busy season. Let?s get cracking.?