Containers returned to Manila port due to foul smell

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines – At least 16 of 721 containers shipped here were sent back to the Port of Manila Tuesday after these were found to be leaking unknown substance and emitting a foul smell, officials said yesterday.

Roberto Garcia, chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said the containers were delivered to the free port’s New Container Terminal 2 to help decongest Manila’s port area.

The 16 containers were unloaded from M/V Asterisk last Friday.

“The leaking containers were segregated from the other containers and ordered returned to Manila,” Garcia said.

He said the SBMA agreed to store the containers in the Subic Freeport to help the national government address Manila’s port congestion.

“But that’s as long as they conform to the SBMA’s environmental laws and policies,” Garcia said.

“This should not happen again, that is why we will ask for a summary of each container entering the Port of Subic from Manila,” he added.

More than 3,000 unclaimed containers at the Manila International Container Port are expected to be delivered to Subic Freeport, which serves as extension of the Port of Manila.