Tenants at Jurong Fishery Port see fewer customers as port reopens after two-week closure
SINGAPORE: It was a quiet get-go for Jurong Fishery Port on Tuesday (Aug iii) morning time, as wholesale and unloading activities resumed after a two-week closure.
Merely half of the port'southward usual client pool have returned, stallholders told CNA.
Mr Jason Lim, who owns 4 stalls at Jurong Fishery Port, said customers trickled in and out throughout the morn, merely in smaller numbers.
"Information technology's still manageable, in terms of customer volumes, but (if it keeps upward) as time goes by, it'll be harder (for us)," said Mr Lim.
But even equally port activities resumed, not all stalls reopened for business on Tuesday.
Mr Lim estimated that just 30 to 35 per cent of workers and tenants have returned.
Several tenants CNA spoke to said they are still under quarantine, as they had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus terminal month.
"Nosotros're just waiting for the Ministry of Health to give usa more details on our discharge, and so at this point, a lot of things are notwithstanding unknown," said one of tenants, who declined to exist named.
"We as well can't reopen for business concern because most of our staff members are also under quarantine," the tenant added.
READ: 'A lot of confusion' for stallholders and fishmongers as stalls remain closed with COVID-19 testing under fashion
The port had been closed since July 17, after MOH appear seven COVID-19 cases linked to the new cluster Jurong Fishery Port/Hong Lim Market and Food Centre the twenty-four hours before.
A week later, the number of infections tied to the cluster swelled to more than 740.
A growing number of COVID-nineteen cases were also linked to wet markets and food centres which authorities said were "probable seeded" by fishmongers who visited Jurong Fishery Port to collect their stock for sale at markets and food centres.
As of Monday, in that location were 1,072 cases linked to the Jurong Fishery Port/Hong Lim Market & Food Middle cluster, which remains the largest active cluster in the country.
Prior to the port's reopening, the Singapore Food Agency said it had conducted two rounds of deep cleaning, including disinfecting the tenants' offices.
COVID-19 measures, such as restricting admission to the marketplace every bit well as mandatory testing for those entering the ports, have also been introduced to reduce the hazard of another viral manual at the port.
Sustainability and the Environment Government minister Grace Fu and Government minister of State Desmond Tan visited the port on Tuesday morning.
Ms Fu said tenants take been cooperating with authorities on the new measures.
The vaccination rate among those working at Jurong Fishery Port is also high, with 80 per cent of stallholders and workers fully vaccinated and 88 per cent receiving at least one dose, she said.
Ms Fu urged all stallholders and workers to be vaccinated to keep themselves and customers safe.
"It's the joint responsibility of everyone, the shareholders, the workers, the trade visitors that will ensure the resilience of (Jurong Fishery Port) and we hope that the unabridged industry will assist us to keep to work together and collaborate then that we tin continue our food supply resilient and rubber."
CONCERNS OVER DELAYS
Ms Fu added that the Singapore Food Agency was likewise in close word with tenants at the port, equally they adapt to new measures.
The enhanced measures take led to growing concerns amidst fishmongers and merchants nigh potential delays in receiving their supplies.
Mr Lim said he had informed his usual customers to arrive earlier to avert long queues at the entrance due to stringent checks.
"I told them to just come earlier to forestall whatsoever hiccups because but past entering the port itself, it'southward a lot more than troublesome because (the authorities) need to identify who are the right people to enter and who are not," said the director of Kiang Huat Sea Products.
Under the enhanced measures, only authorised entry pass holders who have undergone testing and tested negative for COVID-xix will exist allowed to enter the port.
"It'south not user-friendly and very strict, I had to take the COVID-19 test earlier I entered and (from now), I take to take it one time a week," said Mr Lim Chor Benefaction, who owns a wet market stall at Bedok South Marketplace and Food eye.
Meanwhile, new restrictions aimed at reducing contact between foreign workers and those working at the wharf and unloading area could striking fishmongers with further delays.
All unloading activities are currently being supervised by prophylactic distancing ambassadors and will also be monitored via closed-circuit idiot box.
Workers at the port can merely pick upwardly the goods in one case the foreign workers motility abroad from the demarcated unloading area and the crates have been disinfected.
The new process could fix things dorsum by an hour or two, estimated Mr Jason Lim.
He added that he had brash his usual supplier from Indonesia to go out two hours earlier, in gild to avert delays.
"Last time, our practice was that when the vessel arrives, (the strange workers) would unload the fish and we would utilise a forklift to collect it ourselves, but now, the boxes must be disinfected and someone else volition forklift it up," he said.
"It actually takes a long fourth dimension, but we cannot do anything, nosotros but accept to await at the side," he said.
Another concern, Mr Lim said, is that the people collecting the fish might not exist as experienced as his own workers.
"I don't know how experienced they are because forklifting fish containers may be quite dissimilar from forklifting things in other sectors," he said.
"Dropping a whole entire container into the sea is one possibility and information technology's something I've asked the authorities because somebody has got to bear the consequences or costs if it happens."
Mr Eitan Teo, the vice chairman of the Singapore Fish Merchant'southward General Association, told CNA that the clan is currently working with the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to see whether the enhanced measures can be improved to make it more convenient for those entering the port.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/tenants-jurong-fishery-port-see-fewer-customers-port-reopens-after-two-week-closure-285551
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