Bareboat
chartering program boosts RP push for overseas shipping
THE Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA)
said the overseas shipping sector is exhibiting significant
growth, especially with the introduction of the bareboat
chartering program.
Latest data from the maritime agency
showed the Philippines now has a total of six owned,
159 bareboat chartered, and two lease-purchased ships.
MARINA Deputy Administrator for Planning/OIC Atty.
Gloria J. Victoria-Bañas said around 29 enterprises
were also accredited as of December last year. "Interestingly,
economic gains have been achieved when the bareboat
chartering program was introduced," she noted.
Tax-free environment. More ship owners
were encouraged to enter into a bareboat chartering
agreement due to the country's relatively tax-free
environment. In 2002, vessel acquisition through bareboat
chartering grew 57% to 58 from the previous year's
37, MARINA noted. Bañas said the overseas shipping
also significantly contributed to the employment of
Filipino seafarers.
Last year, remittances from sea-based
overseas Filipino workers amounted to P63.616 million.
For the domestic shipping, latest
figures showed that out of the 63 vessels recently
approved for acquisition, 22 were bareboat chartered.
Opportunities
abound for local ship building, repair industry
THE local shipbuilding ship repair
(SBSR) industry is alive and well in the Philippines,
thanks to recent developments in the maritime sector
and trading industry.
At the recently concluded 2nd BIMP-EAGA
Conference at the Peninsula Manila in Makati, Transportation
and Communications undersecretary for Maritime Affairs
Agustin Bengzon cited support from the Development
Bank of the Philippines (DBP), medium-term requirements
by the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard,
and the need to replace the ageing domestic merchant
fleet as reasons for optimism within the SBSR industry.
Through its Sustainable Logistics
Development Program (SLDP), the DBP is allocating
P12 billion for, among others, the building of 96
vessels to provide roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) services
to 48 routes. Bengzon said the DBP is making funds
available for the SBSR sector and is considering the
establishment of a ship financing facility in response
to private sector clamor to package the building of
ships.
"In collaboration with the National
Development Corporation, the company will institutionalize
and facilitate ship financing in the Philippines,"
he noted. AFP requirements.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the
Philippines has expressed interest in building a partnership
with the private sector for the modernization of the
Philippine Navy. "The acquisition program of the Philippine
Navy over a 15-year period involves the upgrading
and new building of over a hundred vessels of various
types, including 53 patrol craft/boats, 15 transport
ships, 23 amphibious craft, 14 offshore patrol vessels
and 15 other types of vessels," Bengzon said.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is
also in need of new vessels. It is acquiring - over
a 15-year period - 311 multi-role response vessels.
From 15 meters to 125 meters long, the vessels will
be used for search and rescue, oil pollution response,
anti-piracy and anti-smuggling activities.
The ageing domestic merchant fleet
and deep-sea fishing fleet meanwhile call for replacement.
There are currently about 185 vessels more than 25
years old; 128 are within the 26- to 30-age group;
and 57 above 30 years. "These have to be replaced
with newbuildings and newer ships," he said.
Another opportunity for the SBSR industry,
Bengzon stressed, is the gradual phase-out of wooden-hulled
vessels. The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA)
recently came op with a policy prohibiting the construction
of new wooden-hulled ships. The merchant fleet comprises
2,664 wooden-hulled vessels, the largest group of
which (1,543 vessels) are motorized bancas.
Bengzon said the MARINA has identified
nine large shipyards all over the country capable
of building new ships, including two local joint-venture
shipyards building ships for foreign buyers, Tsuneishi
Heavy Industries, Inc. and FBMA Babcock Marine, Inc.,
both based in Cebu. To date, the largest shipbuilding
facility is the 300,000 deadweight ton (DWT) graving
dock of the Subic Shipyard.
Two shipyards have a synchrolift facility
- Keppel Batangas with 20,000 DWT and Phil. Iron Const.
& Marine Works, Inc. with 1,500 DWT.
THE Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp.,
a marine towage and salvage company currently assisting
in recovery operations for SuperFerry 14, recently
acquired more tugboats.
The marine towage firm acquired three
more tugs (2,600 to 3,200 BHP range) to further aid
the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in its search operations.
The entry of the Tabangao, Bauan and Limay brings
the Malayan tugboat fleet to 32. Capt. Edgardo M.
Gualberto, Malayan chairman and chief executive officer,
said apart from search and recovery operations, the
company has been responsible for de-fueling of SuperFerry
14, without which bunker oil of the half-submerged
ferry would have endangered the marine environment.
The 10,000-gross ton SuperFerry 14
is about to be re-floated to unload its cargo of vehicles
and containers. The ferry now lies on its starboard
side in Sisiman, Mariveles town. Used in the search
and recovery operations for SuperFerry 14 were the
962-gross ton salvage vessel Atlas and heavy-lift
crane barge Hercules. Of the 32 tugs, 11 are equipped
with fire fighting and oil pollution control equipment.
The company also operates two floating
dry docks for its own fleet of tugs but may soon venture
into commercial operation.
APL
security executive urges harmonized global regulations
OCEAN carriers and the world's ports
and marine terminals risk overlooking a real security
threat unless nations align their regulations, a maritime
security expert warned recently.
Earl Agron, Director of Port and
Container Security for ocean-container carrier APL,
said the problem stemmed from the interrelated nature
of global trade. "Keep in mind that one country's
imports are another country's exports, and still other
countries' in-transit and transshipment boxes," Agron
told an audience of shippers, carriers, port officials
and others at the Asia Pacific Maritime Summit 2004
in Singapore.
"Each nation naturally wants to protect
itself, and so issues regulations about container
security.
The danger is that without harmonizing
those regulations, we will all get lost in a maze
of administrative requirements." Missing the real
threat The potential outcome, he said, was that maritime
officials might become so involved in satisfying regulations
that they could miss a real security threat when it
happened.
Agron urged the World Customs Organization
to take on the task of harmonizing container security
regulations, which are currently being issued by the
US, Canada, Australia, Singapore and other nations.
He also questioned what would happen to vessels and
ports that failed to meet the requirements of the
International Maritime Organization's International
Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, scheduled
to come into effect July 1, 2004.
"It seems clear that the US, at least,
will more than likely deny entry of non-compliant
vessels after 1 July," Agron observed. "The big question
is, really, what will happen when a compliant vessel
arrives at a compliant port, but has previously called
someplace that is not in compliance? "The consequences
are still being considered.
It is very important that this question
be cleared up immediately to allow carriers to build
back-up plans based on a well-defined set of consequences."
