ICTSI: Port Area traffic situation 'improving'

MANILA, Philippines - The International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) said yesterday there has been an improvement in the traffic situation at Port Area, Manila because its employees have been speeding up the repair of the computer system glitch that has caused the slow flow of trucks in and out of the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

Truckers and motorists going through Port Area have been complaining of “monster” traffic snarls, with 10-wheeler trucks bottling up Roxas Boulevard and surrounding streets in Port Area as well as Intramuros the past few nights.

ICTSI spokesperson Nana Soriano said the nightly traffic jams are mainly attributable to the huge backlog caused by the long weekend last week.

“It was really the huge backlog,” Soriano told The STAR in a phone interview yesterday.

Soriano said the systems glitch affected the operation of the electronic gates at the MICP.

Soriano lamented the brickbats ICTSI is getting for the traffic jams in Port Area this week, saying the operator of the North Harbor was not getting blamed for the traffic snarls at North Bay Boulevard Avenue caused by construction work to rehabilitate the port.