GRA gives Shore Base sufferance wharf status

Sep 16, 2021 News

…facility now subjected to special Customs Regulations

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has appointed the Guyana Shore Base Incorporated (GYSBI) owned by Muneshwers Limited along with the adjoining Industrial Estate leased from Guyana Realty Investments Limited as private Warehouse and a Sufferance Wharf.

A supply vessel berthed at GYSBI wharf

This is according to the GRA in a public notice published yesterday, which indicated that the appointed was done pursuant to the Customs Act and is cited, “as the notification of the appointment of a private warehouse or sufferance wharf by the Commissioner General of the Revenue Authority.”
Under the notice, “Shore bases described in the schedule providing operation support and supply of goods to approved companies involved in the exploration and production of petroleum and petroleum products and is hereby appointed as approved Private Warehouses and Sufferance Wharves.”
A sufferance wharf is a place other than an approved place of loading and offloading by the Revenue Authority, where a senior Customs officer may by discretion and under certain conditions allow the loading and offloading of goods.
GYSBI is ExxonMobil Guyana’s lone Tier I contractor in the country and currently is the only facility providing onshore support for oil and gas operator companies in Guyana.
The company on its website boasts of offering services “such as waste management, chemical storage, warehousing, construction, berthing of supply vessels, cargo marshaling area, loading and offloading, supply chain management, expatriate management, and customs services. GYSBI has expanded beyond the traditional pipe yards found in Guyana.”
GYSBI is said to have some 350 plus employees and maintains an average of 95 percent local workforce.
At present, GYSBI occupies 130 acres of land South of Georgetown and is strategically located north of the Demerara Harbour Bridge with immediate water access and two berths. The main port consists of 28 acres of developed land.
Meanwhile, the adjoining industrial estate consists of 100 acres with 50 acres developed and the remaining 50 acres is currently being developed.
The GRA ahead of production in 2019 from the Liza Destiny had also appointed that Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel as a sufferance wharf that subjected the vessel to all customs regulations, which concern sufferance wharves.
For instance, if the lessee of the vessel, ExxonMobil, wishes to load goods there, it will have to furnish GRA with particulars on the intended goods.
ExxonMobil will have to maintain certain conditions as required by the Revenue Authority to maintain the licence allowing it to board goods on to the ship.
Those regulations are catered for in Part V of the Customs Act.
The Liza Destiny is currently owned by Guyana Deepwater UK Limited, SBM’s Offshore local subsidiary, but is leased to ExxonMobil.

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