Various government agencies are set to implement new measures to help ease congestion in key Metro Manila ports, a Palace official said.

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma, Jr., in a news briefing yesterday, said the Cabinet Cluster on Port Congestion, in a meeting on Tuesday morning, agreed that the following steps be implemented in Manila ports as part of the government’s bid to facilitate the flow of goods in and out of the country:

• effective Sept. 8, all cargoes cleared by port authorities, namely the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and Bureau of Customs (BoC), will be given five days to pull out from the Manila ports or will be shipped out by the government to Subic and/or Batangas ports;
• effective Oct. 1, all cargoes cleared by port authorities that fail to pull out within the prescribed five-day period will be charged a fine of P5,000 a day; and
• incentives be given for importers and brokers who will operate during Sundays.

The Palace spokesman also noted that the interagency cluster -- composed of the heads of the Finance, Socioeconomic Planning, Transportation, Trade and Public Works departments, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the PPA and the BoC -- is “passing around concerned agencies a resolution for the implementation of a 24-hour last mile truck routes for a two-week period, envisioned to be an effective solution for decongesting the Port of Manila.”

Mr. Coloma said truckers operating on Sundays will likewise be tagged by the MMDA so they can use the 24-hour last mile truck routes even during periods covered by Manila’s expanded truck ban.

“They will also be given last mile, meaning even during the time of the truck ban, they will be allowed to finish the delivery of their cargoes to the authorized warehouses. But this will be an incentive offered to those who are operating on Sunday,” he explained.

The Palace spokesman noted that the truck routes are from Port of Manila going to authorized warehouses in Metro Manila and vice versa, the 24/7 Roxas Boulevard and Quirino Avenue truck lanes to the South and the A. Bonifacio C3 to North Luzon Expressway truck lanes.

In a phone interview, Mr. Coloma said the Cabinet Cluster “already approved the resolution in principle and is just awaiting the signature of all concerned agencies.”

Sought for comment yesterday, Henry J. Schumacher, vice-president for external affairs of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said in a text message: “We welcome these moves and the attention the President and his team are giving the port congestion and accessibility issues.”

He added: “Important is to watch the availability of trucks and to remove the franchising of trucks for hire.”

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President Alfredo M. Yao said: “All these efforts are good, good. Although the problem with Sunday operations is that normally end of banking days is on Friday. You cannot do anything during Sundays so there should be a coordination with the banks also.”

Logistical bottlenecks caused by the congested ports have disrupted the flow of goods in and out of the country, pushing various industry leaders and business groups to call for immediate action from the government and a timeline for resolving port congestion, considering the current backlog and the coming holiday season when cargo volumes are expected to increase.

The government has earlier implemented several measures to ease the congestion at the ports and its consequent effects on the economy, such as opening its customs and port offices during weekends; prioritizing the release of shipments with food items and other perishables; and leasing a 15-hectare lot at the Philippine International Convention Center to serve as a temporary holding area for empty containers, among others.

Despite these mitigating measures, the PPA, in a statement last Saturday, said yard utilization level at the two Manila ports jumped back to 90% last Friday from 87% last Monday due to the long weekend, still beyond the ideal 80%.

The PPA has urged the city government of Manila to approve eight trade new lanes to prepare for the onset of the peak shipping season with expected inbound shipments in Manila ports to run up to 7,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) this week, from a daily average of 5,000 TEUs.

Meanwhile, the government, led by the Cabinet Cluster on Port Congestion, said it is set to meet with Metro Manila mayors to discuss the lifting of the truck ban for specific routes, particularly those going east of Manila, such as Marikina City and Pasig City, still in an effort to ease congestion problems in the ports as Manila’s truck ban was said to have aggravated the situation at the ports.

In an interview on Monday, Manila Vice Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said they already met with the Cabinet Cluster “two weeks ago, but there might be a follow-up meeting” although there is no schedule yet.

Asked for the outcome of the said meeting, he said everyone agreed the Manila city’s truck ban “is not the reason for the port congestion” and “there’s really a problem inside the port.

Source: Business World, 03 September 2014