For many of the Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago, especially those who arrived over the last three or four years, the main mission has been to help provide for the relatives they left behind in their home country. While some choose to transfer money, others choose to send goods directly, using local shipping agents.
By Newsday
More than 18 small shipping companies currently work between Venezuela and TT, transporting any and everything that migrants can buy here that they think their relatives back home might need.
Ildemar Valdivieso, owner of the Caribbean Sun shipping company out of Tucupita, Venezuela, told Business Day many Venezuelans work in TT and organise their packages so their relatives in Venezuela can survive.
“The number of clients has grown as the number of Venezuelans in Trinidad has increased. Thanks to that, we had to expand throughout Trinidad. Today, we have 30 customer service representatives in Trinidad who are in charge of providing customer assistance and collect items that have already been packed in boxes and weighed to be delivered to family members in Venezuela,” he said.
Among the most popular items shipped are personal care products, electrical appliances and automotive accessories.
Families send home food, school supplies, personal hygiene items, clothes, shoes, toys, even water tanks, roof sheets for houses, washing machines, refrigerators, kitchen appliances, blenders, air conditioners and tires for cars and motorcycles. Several shipping companies transport medicines for free.
Getting from one point to the next
Caribbean Sun departs from King’s Wharf in San Fernando for Tucupita in the Venezuelan state of Delta Amacuro, where they have their main offices. The company also has a branch in Maturín, in the state of Monagas. The trip takes at least six hours, and Caribbean Sun does deliveries twice per month.
“It is a long process, with a lot of responsibility, but thank God we have had the support of both the TT authorities and Venezuela to be able to (do it),” Valdivieso said. (Caribbean Sun is also registered to do business in Trinidad.)
One of the Caribbean Sun agents is Julmary Madriz-Belle, known among Venezuelans in Trinidad on social media as “Guayacucha.” She’s been in the shipping business for five years.
Married to a Trinidadian and the mother of three children, Madriz-Belle has a portfolio of more than 100 clients, who call her monthly to send aid to Venezuela.
“I collect in the north (east/west) and central zone of Trinidad. I go to the clients’ houses to weigh and prepare the bill. We review the merchandise that is to be sent and I check that everything is legal. Then we pack, weigh and deliver the personalised invoice with the list of items that goes in each box, so the relatives in Venezuela can certify that everything has been delivered,” she explained.
The prices are varied, from $15 to $20 per kilogramme for hygiene items, clothing and food. The cost to ship appliances and vehicle parts depends on the purchase prices in the warehouses.
Madriz-Belle said that during the last two months of each year (November and December), she can send up to 1,000 kilogrammes of goods for her clients. The rest of the year averages about 100 kilogrammes per shipment.
After receiving all the boxes, each collector takes the goods to the shipment point in San Fernando to be loaded on to Caribbean Sun’s vessels.
All merchandise must be sanitised before being checked by TT customs officers. Once they get the all clear, the ship sets sail. In Venezuela, the goods have to go through the same sanitisation and customs checks.
“There are hundreds, thousands of boxes and from different addresses. Caribbean Sun has among its offers home delivery in Tucupita. Shipments to the rest of the country are made through local transport companies,” said Valdivieso.
As good as business is, Valdivieso said that challenges getting gasoline in Venezuela plus the covid19 pandemic and health and safety protocols have slowed down the amount of travel shipping companies can undertake.
“At the moment, several companies are transporting goods in a single boat due to the shortage of gasoline. Most companies make two trips a month,” he said.
Caribbean Sun transports just over four tonnes of goods each trip, not including appliances or large vehicle parts.
Cross-border co-operation
Shipping parcels between TT and Venezuela is undoubtedly an attractive option for all involved – from the clients, through local warehouses and shipping companies – and provides employment to scores of people, both directly and indirectly.
“In total in Trinidad and Tobago we have more than 40 people working for Caribbean Sun, including Trinidadians. The trucks and taxis used in the collection and transportation process are local people. In Venezuela, another 14 people support the distribution of the merchandise,” Valdivieso said.
For customers, the first part of the link, this service goes beyond the shipment, but also the results – sending supplies to their families and their joy in receiving them.
One of Caribbean Sun’s clients, Marian Natera, said: “I have been living in Trinidad for three years and since I arrived I have sent boxes to Venezuela twice a year and it is a priceless satisfaction to see my family happily receive every item that I can send them.”
Natera believes that the opportunity she and Venezuelan migrants have to help their families with Trinidadian items is “wonderful”.
“This is a very good country, where we have everything (that) unfortunately (is) not in Venezuela, that’s why every time I make a shipment I try to include medicines, school supplies, hygiene items and food,” she said.
Local supermarkets, pharmacies, shops and warehouses also benefit from Venezuelans purchasing these items daily, often to include in these care packages.
Economist Kiran Mathur Mohammed believes that given the current global situation, at a time when most retail companies are experiencing drops of between 20 and 80 per cent, “Venezuelan migrants may have saved hundreds of local retail and distribution jobs.”
Mohammed said that thousands of tonnes for each trip in high-value goods are exported, which means tens of millions of monthly business for local companies.
“This will clearly help drive growth, as a decent percentage is produced locally,” he said.
For Mohammed, this is a situation that smart local producers should take advantage of by “researching what Venezuelan customers need and want and meeting their demand.”
Businesses, then, should adapt to the unique opportunity, and Mohammed suggested local companies open lines of credit, advertise in Spanish, and train employees in the language as a way to better capture the market.