Government urged to improve NAIA cargo services

MANILA, Philippines — A customs brokers group is urging the government to break the cargo monopoly at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by opening a gate with ramp access that would allow other warehouses to transport cargo directly to and from the aircraft.

In an open letter addressed to President Marcos, the Philippine Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. (PCCBI) said the closure of two gates at NAIA has resulted in only one operator having ramp access.

“If this were a horse race, all the gates would be locked except for one. And the bettors, in this case the 37 foreign airlines, have no choice but to sign up with the lone runner,” the PCCBI said.

The group claimed that two gates – one in 2020 and another earlier this year – were shut down by court injunctions based on dubious complaints.

It said the first claimed ownership of Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) property while the other was from a complaint from a group claiming the gate would injure the rights of passengers and even posted a bond of P2 million.

According to earlier news reports, a Parañaque court in June stopped the opening of a new gate which was approved by the MIAA in December last year after it issued a temporary restraining order following a complaint filed by the group Kapisanan ng mga Nagtitiis na Mananakay.

The same court issued a preliminary injunction last July, thereby halting the construction of the new gate.

The PCCBI said that the required gate is crucial to making NAIA a regional and transshipment hub, especially given its strategic location.

At present, it said shippers use other countries because the lone operator sometimes takes 12 hours to sort out one container taken from an aircraft, keeping the queue of trucks on Sucat outside NAIA delivering or picking up cargo to worsen traffic in the area.

The group said the New NAIA Infra Corp., the private company rehabilitating NAIA, has implemented several measures to improve passenger experience in the short time it took over the airport.

However, it said that cargo deserves equal attention.

“Passenger services addresses tourism while cargo will improve trade, and both will lead to economic growth, investments, innovation and job generation,” the group said.

“Christmas cargo flow is peaking and action is needed soonest,” it emphasized.

Data from the MIAA showed that cargo volumes handled by the airport totaled to 382,321.5 metric tons (MT) in January to August, an 11.1 percent increase from the 344,021.62 MT registered in the same period last year.

International cargo accounted for the bulk of the volume at 258,514.13 MT. In contrast, domestic cargo registered a volume of 123,807.4 MT.