THE Customs Memorandum Order (CMO)
providing for the issuance of customs passes to freight
forwarders and their representatives continues to hang
after talks between the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and
freight forwarders bogged down. In a meeting last week,
parties failed to reach an agreement concerning the
scope of the customs pass. Another meeting is being
scheduled this week. The BOC, together with the Alliance
of Concerned Freight Forwarders (ACFFO), wants the passes
limited to filing and amendments of manifests and loading
of shipments at airport warehouses. They do not want
the passes to allow the bearer authority to process
import and export shipments deemed exclusive to BOC-accredited
Customs Brokers and their duly authorized Customs Representatives
or personeros pursuant to Customs Administrative Order
No. 3-2006. CAO 3-2006 operationalizes the Republic
Act 9280 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004 at the BOC.
The Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association
(PISFA) and the Airfreight Forwarders of the Philippines,
Inc. (AFPI) together with the Philippine Shippers' Bureau
(PSB) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) want otherwise.
PISFA executive director Atty. Romeo Sto. Tomas told
PortCalls that if the BOC insists on limiting
the scope of the pass then the issuance of the CMO is
unnecessary. "We (PISFA, AFPI, CAB, PSB) want the
customs pass without any limitation and allow the bearer
to process import and export shipment. If not, then
there is no need for the CMO. We want to offer total
logistics wherein there are no barriers," Sto.
Tomas explained. Aside from such issue, Sto. Tomas said
there are no other contentious provisions in the proposed
CMO. The group expects a favorable decision from the
BOC after the agency, he claimed, hinted toward the
end of the meeting at being open to adopting the PISFA,
AFPI, PSB and CAB proposal. Earlier, the BOC agreed
to use existing accreditation procedures enforced by
the PSB and CAB as a pre-requisite to issuing passes
for forwarders. The PSB opposed an earlier BOC proposal
to subject forwarders to separate accreditation before
issuing them passes. PSB claimed the move will only
add to the bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the groups are still
in the process of approving the CMO provision governing
the employment of accredited customs brokers and customs
representatives or personeros by companies. A final
draft of the CMO is expected two weeks before July 21,
or the day the 60-day extension period for the implementation
of CAO 3-2006 lapses.
What's wrong
with importing vessels, NDC asks local shipping industry
LOCAL shipping firms should start looking
for ships in countries such as China than wait for the
country's shipyards to manufacture vessels for the domestic
market, an official of the National Development Company
(NDC) advised. The official said local firms and the
government should stop dreaming of sourcing their ship
requirements locally when there are presently no shipyards
capable of manufacturing a vessel. "Who are we
to question the quality of vessel products from China,
when there are no capable shipyards here to build vessels?
Majority are all for ship repairs," the official
said. "We are saying the same thing with products
from Taiwan a few years back. Now, where are they compared
with us?" he added. He stressed 90% of the country's
shipyards are for ship repair and maintenance, and the
remaining 10% (including Cebu-based companies FBMA,
Inc. and Keppel Philippines Marine, Inc.) while able
to manufacture vessels choose to do so for the export
market. The official, who was tasked to revitalize the
country's shipping industry, said NDC is willing to
fund ship acquisition of local firms, even if this means
importing from other countries. He said firms should
start looking at ship acquisition between now and December
rather than wait for next year. International shipyards
are booked until 2010. It takes between three and five
years to manufacture a vessel. The official's statement
counters that of Maritime Industry Authority (Marina)
administrator Vicente Suazo Jr's, who said local firms
should look at local shipyards for their requirements.
He said Marina is already encouraging the Philippine
Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy to source their
requirements locally rather than procure their ships
from Taiwan or the United Kingdom. Suazo also said shipping
firms may have difficulty buying second-hand ships abroad
since international vessel owners are holding on to
their assets as much as they can due to rising iron
prices.
Stricter
Marina rules on wooden-hulled vessel manufacture loom
THE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina)
said it may implement stricter rules on the construction
of wooden-hulled vessels based on a recommendation from
the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA
recommended that the length of wooden-hulled ships be
limited; construction of the keel strengthened; frames
for reinforcement added with stainless brackets; an
air intake cowl on top of cabin be placed; and floaters
installed. There are 2,503 units of wooden-hulled transport
craft of various sizes and categories. Marina said its
ship regulations office has prepared a preliminary standard
ship designed for wooden-hulled vessel. The agency sought
JICA funding after two passenger-carrying ships-one
a wooden-hulled and the other steel-hulled-collided
on May 25, 2003, killing 23 passengers. Marina said
the incident raised issues on the safe operation of
bancas, especially when carrying passengers. Last May,
when typhoon Caloy ravaged Luzon, M/B Mae Ann sunk off
Masbate killing 27 passengers. The vessel was a wooden
ferry with outriggers and could seat 60 persons. The
incident prompted Marina to inspect all wooden-hulled
vessels in the country for cracks in the hull and other
damages. JICA, in its earlier report, said the Philippines
still has a backward shipping industry, despite being
an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
DHL Express Philippines sees its
business in the Philippines growing by 30% this year
due to the expected increase in electronics export
and the launch of more service points nationwide.
Lawrence Llamzon, DHL country manager, said the expected
growth is more than the 10-12% average growth of the
industry annually. "The growth would be derived
from higher shipments due to the expected increase
in exports particularly of electronics which account
for more than half of our outbound deliveries,"
Llamzon added. Llamzon also said the addition of 12
new directly-owned service points within the next
12 months would also step up revenues, especially
outside Metro Manila where some of the service points
will be set up. Next month, DHL will open its eighth
directly-owned service point in Cebu, its first outside
Metro Manila.
