WG&A gets tax perks for new vessels

Domestic shipping firm WG&A Inc. has availed itself of tax perks from the government following the acquisition of four new vessels for its passenger and cargo operations, the company informed the Philippine Stock Exchange.

WG&A officer-in-charge Ismael Cabonse said the Board of Investments (BOI) has approved the company’s registration as a new operator of inter-island shipping on a pioneer status under the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987.

As a BOI-registered entity, WG&A is entitled to avail itself of certain fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, foremost of which is an income tax holiday for six years. The BOI grants tax incentives to companies with projects that are in the priority list of investments spanning the key industrial sectors.

In 2002, WG&A reported an unaudited net income of P416 million, or 27 percent lower than the P572-million net profit in 2001, mainly due to a higher income tax provision of P183 million.

Last year, WG&A acquired the four new shipping vessels to augment its SuperFerry line.It launched last Jan. 16 the SuperFerry 15 at the new Eva Macapagal Super Terminal at Manila’s South Harbor while SuperFerry-16 is scheduled for launch also this quarter.

Two more vessels, worth a total $16 million, are expected to be delivered by Japan’s Meimon Taiyo Ferry Co. Ltd., an affiliate of the global shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.

Each of the new ships can carry 1,930 passengers, 210 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containerized cargo, and 60 cars, with state-of-the-art facilities.

WG&A presently operates 23 vessels nationwide and is already the largest provider of domestic ferry transportation on both the passenger and cargo business.

In July last year, the Cebu-based Aboitiz group – through its listed holding firm Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. – bought out its partners (the Chiongbian and Gothongs families) in WG&A for P3.65 billion, raising its controlling interest from 31 percent to a dominant 92 percent.