Small Business Fraternity Calls for Government Assistance on Trade Bridge Between Antigua and Montserrat
Small businesses here are again agonizing for government support to facilitate trade between Montserrat and Antigua.
They are contending that since the termination of the ferry service, the sustainability of their businesses has been stifled and, in some cases, forced to close.
Callers into the “Breakfast Show” Tuesday, some of them small business operators, lobbied for government intervention to ensure that serious consideration is given to assisting small businesses to keep afloat.
They say the cost to bring cargo from Antigua to Montserrat has tripled in some instances and small businesses just cannot survive in the current arrangements.
The Typhoon Express provides the service between Antigua and Montserrat twice monthly.
Callers into the “Breakfast Show” Tuesday voicing concern on issues relating to a viable trade link between Montserrat and Antigua, and how small businesses on island are affected.
Meantime, there is a call for small businesses on island to come together in the form of a consortium to source items in Antigua for shipment to Montserrat.
However, entrepreneur Norman Cassell says that it is all well and good to have this kind of collaboration, but that in a free enterprise each business is looking to see how best to capitalize on emerging opportunities to maximize benefits.
He says several factors including the small business environment and the type of infrastructure do not lend themselves favourably and therefore present challenges for small business operation
Norman Cassell