Traders urged to help ease port congestion

MANILA, Philippines - A business leader is proposing weekend and holiday operations for certain enterprises to help resolve the congestion in Manila’s ports.

Speaking to reporters, Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) president George Chua said importers, brokers and shipping lines and banks must be fully operational on weekends and holidays, especially during the next three days, to move containers stuck at ports.

“We appeal to businessmen to secure the release of overstaying containers immediately,” he said.

“We support the lifting of the ban for at least the port-related trucks which constitute only one third of the trucks in Metro Manila.”?They have asked importers to get their containers at the soonest possible time to ease congestion, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. president Alfonso Sy said.?Speaking to reporters Thursday, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Winston Ginez said the government has suspended implementation of the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 2014-01 for trucks using Manila’s ports.?“There will be no apprehension of trucks,” he said.

“This is with full support of (Transportation) Secretary (Joseph Emilio) Abaya  for trucks in all ports of Manila,” he said.?JAO 2014-01 imposes higher penalties on traffic violations, including unauthorized operations.?Under the JAO, operators of unauthorized trucks will be fined P200,000.?The LTFRB earlier gave an Aug. 15 deadline for trucks to apply for provisional authority.?Ginez said trucks carrying port user’s certificate from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and a provisional authority from the LTRFB will not be   apprehended “until the Port of Manila’s?operations normalize as determined by the Cabinet Cluster on Decongestion of Port of Manila.”?A total of 12,145 trucks-for-hire use Manila’s ports, he added.?Out of the total, the LTFRB has issued provisional authority to 10,000.

Ginez said a one-stop shop will be set up on Tuesday for the issuance of port user’s certificate and provisional authority for trucks-for-hire.?Speaking to reporters, FPI chairman Jesus Arranza said the LTFRB’s move is a welcome development as it comes at a time when manufacturers are?expecting the seasonal increase in imports beginning September.?“We are happy because now we can see that things are moving,” he said.?Containers have piled up at Manila’s ports following imposition of a City of Manila ordinance in February preventing trucks from plying city streets from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.?

First time

General manager Juan Sta. Ana of the PPA said it is the first time that the country has faced port congestion of this magnitude.

PPA is asking for a three-month moratorium on the truck ban from Manila City Hall to speed up decongestion of the two ports in the city, he added.

This year’s port congestion at the Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) is more than 50 percent worse than in previous years, he added.

Sta. Ana told stakeholders that the port congestion beginning Feb. 24 until June 3 continues to affect the flow of goods up to now.

“Before it was just the Christmas season, but it was mild,” he said.

“But (this year) there are cargoes piled up here and abroad because of the restricted movements of the trucks, they cannot transport the container vans to their intended destination.”

Sta. Ana said the City of Manila must agree to a moratorium as the truck ban would not allow the delivery of products to warehouses.

“With the coming Christmas season, we need to address this with the help of the City of Manila,” he said.

Sta. Ana said despite the joint efforts of the government and the private sector, they were unable to meet the 80 percent optimum operation at the ports during the target date Aug. 15.

Even if  everything is being done to declog the two ports, container vans keep coming in, he added.

Currently, about 20,000 containers in Hong Kong, Kaoshung and Singapore are waiting to be brought to Manila.

These cargoes-in-waiting are slowly arriving at the two major Manila ports.

The PPA said they have succeeded in bringing down the yard utilization to 89 percent, but that 8,175 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) still need to be pulled out of the MICP and POM.

A remedy is to transfer at least 3,000 container vans cleared by Customs or overstaying for 60 days to the Customs zone in Subic, Zambales.

The bulk cargo for Christmas is expected to start arriving by mid-September.

The two port operators – International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) of MICP and the Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI)  of POM – shouldered the P14-million charter fee of the Hanjin containerized cargo vessel M/V Asterix to transport the 3,000 boxes to Subic in the next 15 days.