DTI pushes Batangas port

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is supporting the use of the Batangas port as an alternative site for the shipment of locally made goods to foreign markets.

The trade department said the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Philippine Shippers Bureau (PSB) are promoting the port as an alternative site to ship goods in a more efficient and economical way.

"The Batangas port can serve as an alternative route for goods coming from 15 industrial parks situated at the Calabarzon area," Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said.

These industrial parks include the Cavite Economic Zone, Gateway Business Park, First Cavite Industrial Park, People’s Technology Complex, Daiichi Industrial Park, First Philippine Industrial Park, Lima Technology Center, Calamba Premiere Industrial Park, Laguna Technopark, Laguna International Industrial Park, Greenfield Automotive Park, Light Industry and Science Parks I and II and Carmelray Industrial Parks I and II.

According to the DTI, around 6,000 vans per month or about 200 vans daily and another 10,500 truckloads per month or 350 trucks per day commute between the 15 ecozones and the port of Manila.

The DTI said that while a number of ecozones may be geographically closer to the port of Manila, the Batangas port may be more accessible and faster to reach because it is not as prone to traffic as the port of Manila.

"Traffic condition from the ecozones to the Batangas port is lighter," Roxas said.

The Batangas port, he added, is not affected by the 12-hour truck ban, unlike the port of Manila.

"Container vans for exports and imports can freely ply Batangas’s main roads and highways," Roxas said.

A one-stop documentation center at the Batangas port has actually been operating since November last year.

The facility is under the PEZA and processes import entries within a few hours compared to the three to four processing days in Manila.

The DTI and PEZA have also convened 60 logistics managers and personnel of ecozone enterprises for orientation on the available advantages offered by the Batangas port.

Earlier, the government turned down the request of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) to expand the port of Manila’s international cargo handling capability.

The government had cited the need to decongest the city and develop alternative ports such as Batangas and Subic.