Port congestion gone in two weeks — Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Port congestion will be gone in two weeks’ time, Malacañang said yesterday even as it appealed to motorists to brace for heavy traffic in some areas in Metro Manila as truckers with clearance from port authorities will be given five days to pull out their containers from the Port of Manila starting Sept. 8.

Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said truck lanes are open around the clock to decongest Manila’s ports.

He said the government appealed to businessmen and truckers not to use the port as warehouse to avoid congestion.

Truckers whose containers had been in port for 30 to 90 days would be shipped out to Subic or Batangas.

Effective Oct. 1, all cargo cleared by port authorities that are not pulled out within the prescribed five-day period will be fined P5,000 per day, Almendras said.

He said 24-hour last mile truck routes will be implemented for a two-week period as another way to decongest the Port of Manila.

This is an incentive for truckers who operate on Sundays. Truck routes have been set up along Roxas Boulevard and Quirino Avenue going south and A. Bonifacio C-3 to the north.

“For the next two weeks, starting Monday, trucks will be exempted from the truck ban and will be allowed to use the 24-hour express truck lanes,” Almendras said.

There are 16,000 containers that need to be moved out and about 12,000 trucks in the Port of Manila alone.