‘Strike won’t lead to port congestion’

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) yesterday assured the public that the threat of a three-day strike by the Professional Customs Brokers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PCBAPI) would not cause another port congestion.

 The group set the strike from Dec. 16 to 18 to protest the implementation of the web-based Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS) where brokers, forwarders, importers, exporters and cargo owners could choose the time slot for the delivery and withdrawal of their shipments.

 According to the PPA, the PCBAPI “only handles three percent of the volume of cargo that enters the Manila International Container Port and the Port of Manila” and that only this group is complaining.

There are about 12,000 shipping containers that enter both ports everyday with PCBAPI handling about 360 of these. The PPA claimed that brokers for the remaining 11,640 containers have not complained about the TABS, which was implemented in October.

The PPA also said that contrary to rumors that TABS contributes to port congestion, the new system eased the movement of shipments in both ports as it pointed out a 14-percent increase in the volume of “gate out” cargo or about 8,000 containers.

 As for the PCBAPI complaint of ending up waiting for days to get a slot for cargo releasing, the PPA explained that cargoes could not be moved out on the same day the document is processed.

 The available space of the shipping lines has also caused delays in returning the empty containers to the ports. If the outbound vessel could only accommodate 30 container vans, the TABS would only allow 30 empty containers to enter the port.