�But says Ferrier's assumptions erroneous�
CAY BAY--Sol Antilles N.V. General Manager David Antrobus told aviator and businessman Michael Ferrier via letter on Tuesday that the company "objects strongly" to the views expressed in Ferrier's letter to Sol management regarding the lack of jet fuel and aviation gas and Ferrier's notion that Sol is "ripping off St. Maarten" with high fuel prices while other nearby destinations benefit from lower prices.
In confirming Ferrier's claims that there have been shortages of jet fuel at the airport, Antrobus also indirectly told Ferrier that the aircraft Ferrier owned, a Piper Navajo, utilised the uneconomical product known as Avgas (aviation gas), the sale of which is being phased out each year. He said Ferrier had made erroneous assumptions regarding Sol's operations.
"As a responsible regional company Sol effects uniform policies across all of its areas of operations and hence does not extend special treatment to any market over another," Antrobus said.
However, Antrobus said Sol acknowledged the concern with respect to the recent shortage of Avgas, which Ferrier uses in his Piper Navajo, at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA). He said this was a result of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) container used to import the product being damaged in transit to St. Maarten, necessitating its return to the supplier.
"As the quantity of Avgas sold at PJIA is extremely small, a single container is imported at a time. To mitigate this situation, alternative arrangements were made to get a replacement container from neighbouring Tortola. Avgas was again available in St Maarten on March 21," he said.
Regarding jet fuel, Antrobus said the ability to ensure uninterrupted Avjet fuel supply was challenged from time to time by interruptions in shipping and supply sources, bad weather and industrial action. "We acknowledge within recent times that there has been a shortage of Avjet fuel supply at PJIA," he said.
"These occurrences were as a result of unavoidable delays in shipping, with the most recent delay being precipitated by industrial action at the Petrotrin Refinery in Trinidad. Additional un-forecasted demand related to the diversion of aircraft from Antigua due to industrial action at the V.C. Bird International Airport contributed to recent stock outages in neighbouring countries, including St Maarten.
"At all times, the airport authorities are informed of the stock situation and plan action to ensure that the critical commercial activities at the airport are not impacted."
He told Ferrier a monopoly did not exist on the importation, distribution and sale of Avjet (aviation jet fuel) in St. Maarten, as Sol and Chevron "independently and competitively" sold Avjet at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA). In relation to the supply of Avgas, Antrobus said the sale of this high-cost product was reduced each year as newer aircraft converted to Avjet and other distillates.
"As a result of this declining trend, many of the multinational suppliers of Avgas withdrew from this business (many years ago) requiring that the single remaining supplier continue to sell the product. As such, St Maarten is not the only country in the region that has a single supplier of Avgas. All of the countries in the region have a single supplier of this uneconomic product," Antrobus said.
Responding to Ferrier's claim that Sol is "ripping off St. Maarten with high fuel prices," Antrobus said Sol's pricing structure on aviation fuels varied from market to market and was based on the prevailing freight on board (FOB) price of fuel (Avjet or Avgas), transportation, taxes, duties, import levies, etc.
"In an environment of volatile refinery fuel pricing this could lead to price gaps between locations if the products are purchased at different times. Though there is no import duty on aviation fuels into St. Maarten, there is a port throughput fee, an airfield surcharge fee by PJIA on all products, and turnover tax on all domestic aviation fuel sales," Antrobus said.
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