2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 17 - Sugar (§§ 371 — 420g) › Subchapter I - Sugar Act of Puerto Rico (§§ 371 — 390) › § 375 - Transportation of cane

The following terms and conditions shall govern the transportation and hauling of the grower’s cane:
(a) The mill may provide the means of transportation for its grower’s sugarcane from his/her field to the mill, and when it does so provide it, shall compensate the grower with seven and a half cents (7.5[) per ton of cane delivered, on account of delivery (arrimo); Provided, That if during the 1950 crop any mill has paid a higher amount on such account, the latter shall be the governing rate for said mill. In the event that the mill does not provide said means of transportation, it shall be bound to compensate the grower for the transportation of said sugarcane from the grower’s field up to the delivery point designated by the mill in the manner and to the extent established below, whether the transportation is performed with the grower’s equipment or leased by him. The mill shall be bound to provide crane services to all its growers and the personnel needed to operate it, free of charge, at each cane delivery point designated by the mill. When a new grower, or one that wishes to change the sugarcane delivery point, and the mill and the grower do not agree as to the delivery point, the Department shall decide the point at which the mill shall receive the grower’s sugarcane from among those designated by the mill.
(b) In those cases where the grower transports his cane, the mill shall compensate him at the basic rate of fifteen cents (15[) for each ton of cane transported, as hauling expenses, plus the sum of five cents (5[) for each ton per kilometer, from the farm to the point of delivery, provided the distance to be covered from the farm to the point of delivery is half a kilometer or more; Provided, That the grower shall be entitled to receive the basic compensation of fifteen cents (15[) even if the distance to be covered from the farm to the point of delivery is less than half a kilometer. For the purpose of this compensation, the distance shall be determined from the normal or natural exit in the grower’s farm where the cane was cut, to the point of delivery designated by the mill. If upon determining the weight and the distance in the transportation and hauling of the cane, there results a fraction of a kilometer or of a ton, a proportional compensation shall in both cases be paid for such fraction.
(c) In those cases in which the mill has been using portable rails to haul the grower’s cane, the mill shall be bound to provide said portable rails and the necessary rolling material to the grower, free of charge, and shall also be bound to pay the grower five cents (5[) per ton of cane on account of delivery (arrimo). The mill may discontinue the practice of providing portable rails to its growers directly, or through any subsidiary entity, agent or contractor, as long as it gets the prior approval of the Department to do so. The Department shall have the power to order any mill to discontinue the use of any hauling system that in the judgment of the Department is harmful to the interests of the growers or the industry.
(d) The compensation hereinabove provided for transportation and hauling shall be paid weekly by the mill.
(e) The mills shall be liable to the growers for the cane of the latter from the time it is received by them at the point of delivery designated by the mill, except in cases of force majeure, or for reasons beyond the control of the mill.
The provisions of this section notwithstanding, the Department, after due hearing of the parties, may increase the compensation fixed for hauling and delivery expenses to be paid to the grower by the mill, which shall be what shall govern, and the Department may likewise fix the maximum amount that the mill shall be bound to pay on account of hauling and delivery in each case.
History —May 13, 1951, No. 426, p. 1138, § 6; June 19, 1962, No. 54, p. 120; Aug. 5, 1993, No. 43, § 13, retroactive to July 1, 1993.