30% growth eyed CLARKFIELD, PAMPANGA-United Parcel Services
(UPS) this week formally opened its $1.4-million expanded
intra-Asia air hub here. "Now is a great time to
be in Asia," said UPS International president David
Abney in a press briefing, noting that regional companies
are gearing toward total supply chain optimization.
"The expansion of the UPS intra-Asia hub reinforces
the significant role it plays in the region by helping
businesses navigate global commerce and providing them
with access to key trade centers within Asia and around
the world," he said.
Abney said the expanded hub will cater to growing trade
between the Philippines and other key points in Asia.
It will complement other UPS hubs in the region, including
the transpacific hub in Taiwan and the Hong Kong hub
that connects Asia to Europe. The expansion tripled
the hub's sorting capacity from 2,500 packages to 7,500
packages per hour.
The hub's strategic location provides a central sorting
point within four hours by air from all major Asian
cities. The launch coincided with the hub's third anniversary.
Since opening, the facility has grown into the company's
largest hub in the Asia Pacific, with 90 flights per
week, up 50% compared when it first opened.
In the last quarter of 2004, UPS' export volume from
the Philippines grew nearly 30% compared with the same
quarter in 2003. This year, it is eyeing 30% more. Meanwhile,
UPS also announced the launch of new services to Osaka.
Additional flights to China are also being evaluated.
The national government and the Clark
Development Corporation (CDC) are jointly intensifying
efforts to promote the Clark-Subic corridor as an international
hub in the region. "We are optimistic that our
goal for the Clark-Subic corridor will be realized.
This is the future for Clark," President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo told reporters during the formal launch
of UPS' expanded intra-Asia hub here on Monday. Arroyo
cited efforts being undertaken to realize this vision,
particularly the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway project
(SCTEP) which broke ground this week, and the entry
of budget airline services at the Diosdado Macapagal
International Airport (DMIA).
Malaysian carrier Air Asia Berhad has started flying
to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu from DMIA. Tiger Airlines
of Singapore has also began operations. On the other
hand, the SCTEP, a key component of the ten-point agenda
of President Arroyo, will link the growth centers of
Region III to provide easy access to Subic's international
container port facility and the international cargo/passenger
airport facility here to boost industrial activities
that will catalyze growth of the entire Central Luzon.
The expressway is expected to provide the shortest,
most direct access to the four prime ecozones in the
area: Subic Bay Freeport and Special Economic Zone,
Bataan Techno Park in Morong, Bataan, the Clark Special
Economic Zone and the Central Techno Park at the Hacienda
Luisita in Tarlac. For its part, CDC said it is developing
more infrastructure and facilities in Clark, including
airline servicing maintenance.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is strengthening
its Post Entry Audit (PEA) Group to reduce audit processing
time, said Customs commissioner Alberto Lina during
the recently concluded Aircargo Forwarders of the Philippines,
Inc. (AFPI) general membership meeting.
"The auditing will now be conducted within 24 hours
to ensure that fraud and other forms of corruption will
be lessened, if not, eliminated," he noted. The
PEA system is in compliance with the World Trade Organization
valuation system and part of the amended Republic Act
9135 or the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.
The scheme involves post-evaluation of import cargo
records to guarantee integrity of information supplied
to the BOC by importing companies at the time of entry
lodgment. It requires importers to keep at their principal
place of business for a period of three years from the
date of filing of the import entry, all records of their
importations or books of account, business or computer
systems and all other customs commercial data.
These could be in various forms, including payment records,
relevant for the verification of the accuracy of the
transaction value declared by the importers on the import
entry. Auditing will be done when firms voluntarily
request auditing, when errors in the import declaration
are detected, or when firms are selected by a computer-aided
management system.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) last week
set up a one-stop-shop facility at the ATI Inland Clearance
Depot (ICD) in Calamba, Laguna.
The establishment of the facility is expected to result
in expedited import and export clearance processing
of containers and cargoes at the ICD.ATI said there
is no need for importers and exporters in the CALABARZON
area to go to Manila to carry out transactions with
Customs.
As instituted in Customs Memorandum Order No. 11-97
(CMO 11-97), the ICD is an extension of the port of
Manila and as such is treated, operated like a container
terminal and/or container freight station inside a Customs
Zone. The one-stop-shop accepts transactions with the
bureau from 8am to 5pm, from Monday to Friday.
