INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services,
Inc. (ICTSI) said last week's sale of 503,307,699 shares
owned by A. Soriano Corp (Anscor) representing about
23% of the total outstanding shares of ICTSI will not
result in a change in control or in management. The
sale was worth P5.91 billion. In a disclosure to the
Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), ICTSI said the transaction
merely consolidates and strengthens ICTSI chair and
president Enrique Razon, Jr's control of the terminal
operator's management, of which he took control in 1997.
Anscor was an original member of the ICTSI consortium
that won the bid for the contract to manage, operate
and develop the Manila International Container Terminal.
In an earlier disclosure to the PSE, Anscor said, "The
proceeds of the transaction would give Anscor the opportunity
of sharing the profits of this transaction through a
special dividend declaration, and give the company the
ability to consider other investment opportunities.
"The Soriano and Razon families have been partners
in the port services business for two generations. The
deal ended an 18-year partnership. Razon agreed to pay
P11.75 per share within a month and will set up a special
purpose holding company to buy the shares. The sale
involves all Anscor direct and indirect shareholdings
in ICTSI which has 18 subsidiaries.
RP hard put to
comply with double-hulled tanker regulation of IMO -
Marina
THE country's compliance with double-hulled
tanker standards imposed by the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) may take some time as local operators
have no capability to buy or lease tankers of that specification,
according to the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina).
Marina administrator Vicente Suazo, Jr. said the lack
of suitable vessels may push the country's tanker refleeting
by five or 10 years from the implementation the IMO
order in 2008. Suazo explained that shipyards in Japan
and South Korea, which specialize in tanker building,
are heavily booked with repairs and ship orders until
2015 and cannot take additional jobs until them. "The
other option like refurbishing or rebuilding of local
tankers to conform with IMO specifications is a costly
stop-gap measure as it would involved longer dry-docking
taking it out service while it is being modified, "Suazo
said. According to the Marina chief, the best thing
to do for now is to make sure all tankers comply with
IMO's double-bottom standard, which calls for reinforcing
the ship's keel and installing additional compartments
to ensure it does not break up even in cases of collision
or harsh weather. He said the risk of tankers breaking
up in Philippines waters is minimal unlike in the North
Atlantic or Artic Sea where weather and sea conditions
are often adverse. Suazo said the majority of tankers
in the Philippines have been acquired in the 1990's
and are still generally sound. The European Union (EU)
batted for the use of double-hulled tankers in their
waters as these vessels are stronger and more stable
than single-hulled ship. The excellent compartmentalization
of these ships also minimizes oil spills in the event
of collision or grounding. Single-hull tankers were
banned from entering EU ports last October 21, 2003.
The regulation banning single tankers from entering
European ports was an offshoot of the sinking of the
tanker Prestige which broke in two before sinking and
spilling 77,000 liters of oil off the coast of Galicia,
Spain on November 13, 2002. The spill reached the shore
of France. Oil tankers aged 23 years old and above were
also effectively banned from entering all EU ports.
The EU regulation also calls for extensive technical
inspections on tankers 15 years old and up.Single-hulled
tankers are expected to be eliminated from European
waters by 2015. The US also enacted a similar regulation
when the Exxon Valdez ran aground off Bligh Reef in
Alaska's Prince William Sound spilling 10.8 million
gallons of crude on March 23, 1989.
INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services,
Inc. (ICTSI) will continue negotiating with the Port
Authority of Guam (PAG) even if the latter has already
advised them that talks for the operation of the Jose
D. Guerero Commercial Port have been terminated as early
as last month. "While we did receive a letter from
PAG manager Joseph Mesa advising us that he was terminating
negotiation with us, our legal counsel in Guam advised
us that Mr. Mesa did not have authority to issue said
letter, "ICTSI said in a disclosure to the Philippine
Stock Exchange. "We therefore consider that letter
unauthorized and, on advice of counsel, we are pursuing
our negotiation for the contract with PAG, which at
this time is undergoing reorganization, "the company
added. The letter from Mesa stated: "While there
may well have been some misunderstandings on the part
of ICTSI at the outset based on its lack of familiarity
with the government of Guam procurement, we have little
choice at this time but to terminate negotiations effective
April 11, 2006. "Last week, PAG marketing communications
administrator Michael Henderson in a statement also
said: "The Port Authority of Guam selection and
negotiating committee on the Port Privatization has
indeed terminated negotiations with ICTSI as of April
11, who was the top ranked offeror for the privatization
of the lone port of Guam. "Last month, Enrique
K. Razon Jr., ICTSI president and chief executive officer,
said the company would wait until the issue between
politicians and PAG officials were resolved.Guam newspapers
said the termination of the ICTSI contract was done
the same day Governor Felix Camacho fired high-ranking
officials of the port authority, including PAG board
chairman Richard H. Northey. The report said port officials
decided to terminate the negotiations after ICTSI refused
to replace the 38-year old gantry crane, which the PAG
has retired in March. ICTSI said that requirement was
not stated in the original bid. Port officials also
rejected ICTSI's plan to create a new subsidiary with
local company E.C. Development LLP as its minority holder
to handle the operations.In December 2005, ICTSI emerged
as one of the top three bidders for the port's terminal
operations and equipment mainte-nance. The other two
were Portek International Ltd and SSA Marine. According
to the bid documents, if the port authority is unable
to reach a contract agreement with ICTSI, it may negotiate
with the next highest rank or cancel the proposal altogether.
TOP Customs officials from the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are now validating
and formalizing the adoption of amendments on the
Asean Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN) designed
to simplify the tariff nomenclature system of member
states to facilitate trade in the customs zones. The
10-day discussion started May 2. Members are now considering
the proposed amendments to Chapters 86 to 97 of the
AHTN 2002/1 and will validate the adopted amendments
to Chapters 1 to 85, taking into account amendments
to the HS (Harmonized System) 2002 as adopted by the
World Customs Organization HS Technical Committee.
The conference, chaired by Customs Deputy Commissioner
Rey Nicolas, is expected to come up with a joint resolution
at the end of the event that calls for the implementation
of the concept, as member countries review outstanding
headings and discuss amendments to these chapters.
"We will take a hard look into the consolidated
proposals and consider the experts' comments and suggestions
on outstanding issues, "Nicolas said at the sidelines
of the event currently being held at Pearl Garden
Hotel in Manila. Representatives of member countries
are expected to present outcomes of their national
consultations on discussed and adopted tariff lines
for specified chapters from previous meetings of the
AHTN Review Committee. They are also encouraged to
submit supplementary notes to the AHTN Supplementary
Explanatory Notes for Chapters 1-97 and to discuss
the revised TOR of the Technical Committee on AHTN
as the regional body on issued of classification.
The AHTN is an 8-digit commodity nomenclature agreed
to be adopted in principle by the 10 Asean member
countries on January 2002. It is based on the HS and
involves the alignment of the national tariff nomenclature
of each member country with the AHTN.
Pac-Atlantic
Holdings gains full ownership of Accord Shipping Phils
PAC-ATLANTIC Holdings Co. Inc. recently
gained 100% ownership of local forwarder Accord Shipping
(NVOCC) Phils. Inc. by buying the shares of joint
venture partner Accord Express Holding Pte Ltd (AEH)
of Singapore. Mainly taking into account the recent
buyout of AEH by Korean third-party logistics service
provider CJ Global Logistics Services, Pac-Atlantic
Holdings in a strategic move decided to take full
control of Accord Shipping Phils. to further promote
the company towards its targeted growth and direction.
Pac-Atlantic Holdings will remain as partners with
the Accord Group in various other business activities
not limited to the logistics industry. According to
Pac-Atlantic Group Managing Director Ramon de Leon,
the new Accord Shipping will shortly be merged with
his other fully owned company RB Freight International
Inc. to form RB Freight Solutions Inc. The merger
is expected to be completed within the month. De Leon
said it will be business as usual for the consolidated
company's customers and staff, and there will be no
layoffs. Instead, RB Freight Solutions Inc. plans
to hire additional employees to support its objectives.
After the merger, RB Freight Solutions Inc. expects
to capitalize on the combined strengths and resources
of the two companies and eventually come out as one
of the major players in the freight forwarding industry.
The new merged company will combine the 3PL/freight
forwarding expertise of Accord and the customs clearance
and trucking strength of RB Freight Int'l. It will
continue to service VIP clients like Samsung, TIPCO,
SKF, Toshiba, Firmenich and Tetrapak, among others.
With a new vision in sight, RB Freight Solutions Inc.
said it anticipates to offer significantly improved,
comprehensive logistics services to its customers.
