PETCOM resumes supply of fuel to fisher folks following three week disruption

Over the last three weeks, there has been disruption in the supply of government subsidized blended fuel to the fisheries sector. This is as a result of the unavailability of supply from the marketing company, PETCOM. Orders for fuel were made in early November, but to date a number of fishing communities remains without the commodity.
Since August 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has had a supply agreement with PETCOM to provide fuel to the industry. The agreement states in part that “PETCOM shall on receipt of an order from the MOA for the supply of the product, use its best endeavors to promptly supply MOA, with the product after 24 hours of receipt of order.where PETCOM fails to deliver in 72 hours after receipt of the order, may with prior consent of PETCOM procure the product from a third party.”
Unfortunately, PETCOM did not honour its contractual obligation, resulting in the operations of a number of fisher folks being disrupted, negatively affecting their livelihoods. This is the third such recurrence since the start of the year and we are concerned about this development, as this is the only source for subsidized blended fuel for fisher folks. We consider the fishing sector important, as it employs more than 60-thousand people directly and indirectly. In 2009, total fish production amounted to just over 18-thousand metric tons contributing to the economy US $60M.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries wishes to advise, that this unfortunate disruption relates to the inability of PETCOM to provide the outboard lubricant required to blend the fuel.
In the meanwhile.the Ministry can confirm that supply has resumed and it will be redoubling its efforts through intense discussions with PETCOM to ensure that this lapse does not recur.