Post 9/11 world closes in on chandlers
the Globe and Mail, April 25, 2005

Heightened security threatens ancient profession of selling supplies to sailors

Bayani Generoso drives up to the automated checkpoint at the Cascadia Terminal, one of the few remaining areas of the Port of Vancouver to which he still has access. The 53-year-old Filipino-Canadian swipes his security pass and the metal fence slides open.

Mr. Generoso is a chandler: He practices the ancient profession of selling supplies to sailors. However, he may not be in the business much longer -- new security regulations are threatening the livelihoods of the several dozen independent merchants operating at Vancouver ports.

After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, members of the United Nation's International Maritime Organization agreed to increase security at their ports. As a result, Transport Canada introduced the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code on July 1, 2004, creating new security requirements for shipping companies, port authorities and individual terminals.

Mr. Generoso and other chandlers have been issued security passes that give them access to docks such as Cascadia, Agricore United, Pacific Elevators and the Annacis Auto Terminals. However, at Roberts Bank, Port Moody and the Neptune Bulk Terminals, the chandlers need permission from the shipping company's representative at the port. Rather than take a chance, many of these agents refuse to let the chandlers in. Large ship-supply companies with contracts to provide engine parts and food for the entire ship can still get access, but the independent chandlers who sell directly to crews are finding themselves cut off from their clients.

At Cascadia, a massive black freighter named Ultra Ace is tied to the dock. Workers are using a giant hose to fill the cargo hold with Canadian grain destined for Japan. When Mr. Generoso pulls his car up to the end of the dock, a seafarer on the gangway greets him in the Filipino language, Tagalog. Mr. Generoso was here yesterday, selling digital cameras and international cellphones to off-duty sailors in the mess hall.

A large number of international seafarers are Filipino, and they're often happy to meet chandlers who are originally from their country. The sailors work long and irregular hours, so when they get into port, many prefer to pay a chandler for merchandise instead of searching for what they need in an unfamiliar city. Over the past twelve years, Mr. Generoso has carved out a niche for himself by specializing in electronics, and he often fixes the seafarers' personal laptops. Other chandlers sell items such as toothpaste, shampoo and souvenirs.

Mr. Generoso parks his car, although he worries the engine might not start up again -- it's in desperate need of repair, but he doesn't have the money to fix it. The restrictions at the port are strangling his business, and he has been more preoccupied with paying the rent on his family's house in Richmond.

Another chandler, Eddie Sotomayor, is waiting on the dock while his wife sells T-shirts, souvenirs and phone cards inside the ship. Mr. Sotomayor and Mr. Generoso are both members of the newly formed West Coast Ship Chandlers Association of B.C., a group of a dozen husband-and-wife teams who sell to seafarers. According to Mr. Generoso, all the independent chandlers in Vancouver are Filipino-Canadians. He says until last July, it was easy for them to make a living and support their families.

"It's very difficult for us now," Mr. Sotomayor said. "The agents tell us we need to get permission from the captain of the ship first, but how can we get the captain's permission without getting in?"

Mr. Generoso thinks the new regulations are unfair to the chandlers and harmful to the seafarers who rely on their services.

"We've been doing this for a long time," he said. "We've already been identified as safe. We are not terrorists."

Chris Badger, vice-president of the Vancouver Port Authority, said the agents must be careful about who they let on their ships, otherwise the vessel could lose its security certificate and be refused entry into other North American ports. He said the new regulations are necessary if Vancouver wants to remain part of the international trading community.

"Getting access to ports in Canada has definitely become more difficult," Mr. Badger said. "In the past, it wasn't unusual for chandlers to go to a ship and see if they could negotiate directly with them.

"Those kinds of things just don't happen any more. Chandlers will have to have a relationship with the ship's agent before getting access."

Driving home from the port, Mr. Generoso talks about the difficulty of trying to organize the chandlers, who normally compete. Their meetings often degenerate into arguments. Each couple contributed $500 to pay a lawyer to represent them, but the money has now been spent, and the chandlers are on their own again. As Mr. Generoso approaches Clarendon and 41st Streets, his car dies in the middle of the road. He pushes it into an alley and sits in the car, waiting for his wife to arrive.

"With the chandlers, it is just like being stuck here in this car," he sighed. "We were going somewhere and we just got stuck. I don't have any experience dealing with these kinds of things. I don't know what to do in order for us to be heard."