SHIPPERS are getting another reprieve from
escalating logistics cost after the Confederation of Truckers
Association of the Philippines (CTAP) dropped plans for another
round of trucking fee increase.
Truckers last year jacked up rates by 18% for 20-foot containers
and 10% for 40-footer containers.
CTAP president Rodolfo De Ocampo told PortCalls the association
has decided to temporarily shelve its plans to increase rates
with the continuous decline in the prices of fuel.
He added that the other expenses, such as maintenance and
spare parts, which initially prompted truckers to seek a hike
have also mellowed in the past six months and may even go
down if fuel prices continue their present path.
ÒCTAP will maintain current operations. I think truck
operators will still be okay (if they) shoulder any movement
in business costs considering the lower prices of crude and
spare parts. It is also one way of keeping existing clients,
attracting more shippers and increasing volume,Ó De
Ocampo explained.
Diesel, the most common fuel used by trucks, dropped almost
15% in the last three months from P36 per liter to P32 per
liter to date. The price is expected to go down further as
prices of oil in the world market continue to fall.
Before the end of the year though, CTAP is looking at hiking
rates by 10%-15% for export and import cargoes, the same percentage
its counterparts from the loose cargo sector implemented recently.
De Ocampo explained that the percentage is enough to cover
increasing business costs due to low cargo volume.
“We expect better cargo volume this year considering
the current trend as almost all ports registered increases
in the past few months,” he said.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will not accredit
customs brokers employed by corporations whether or not they
are armed with a certificate of good standing from the Chamber
of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI), according to CCBI president
Atty. Jose Leabres.
Quoting results of a meeting with BOC officials two weeks
ago, Leabres said the CCBI was told by the BOC, specifically
the Customs Accreditation Secretariat (CAS), that the CAS
will implement the accreditation procedures exactly as conveyed
under Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No 3-2006-A. The
CAO operationalizes Republic Act 9280 or the Customs Brokers
Act of 2004 at the BOC.
ÒIt doesn’t matter if CCBI will issue the certificate
of good standing to licensed brokers or not, they will not
get accreditation from the BOC if they are employed by corporations,
freight forwarding firms, or brokerage houses,Ó Leabres
explained to PortCalls.
ÒAside from this, corporations will also not be accredited
at the BOC. This was their (BOC) position in our latest meeting,Ó
Leabres stressed.
The accreditation of customs brokers at the BOC is one of
the contentious issues in the implementation of RA 9280. The
CCBI believes brokers employed by corporations should not
be accredited by the BOC, a view opposed by the logistics
sector.
Recently, the logistics group complained that its employee
customs brokers are not being given certificates of good standing
by the CCBI — so far the only accredited professional
organization under CAO 3-2006-A – because they cannot
present full-year individual financial statements.
The financial statement is a requisite for the issuance of
a certificate of good standing from the CCBI which, in turn,
is a requisite to BOC accreditation.
By the nature of their engagement, employee customs brokers
are only able to present the W2 or the certificate of employee’s
compensation and taxes filed on their behalf by their employer
corporations, which the CCBI refuses to accept.
ÒThe accreditation procedures stay unless the higher
court says so with regards to the petition of the BOC with
the Appellate court,Ó Leabres said.
It may be recalled that a Manila court last year invalidated
CAO 3-2006, the precursor of CAO 3-2006-A. The case is under
appeal.
Leabres explained that the court decision invalidating CAO
3-2006 was moot since the CAO has already been repealed by
CAO 3-2006-A by the time the decision was handed down.
He said the CCBI is following provisions of CAO 3-2006-A while
waiting for the decision of the BOC pleading from the Court
of Appeals on CAO 3-2006.
ÒThe decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court is
not yet final and executory,Ó he added.
RA 9280 enacted on March 30, 2004 regulates the practice of
the customs broker profession. It also prohibits corporate
practice of customs brokerage.
Section 29 of the law provides that the customs broker practice
is a professional service and as such, Òno firm, company,
or association may be registered or licensed as such for the
practice of customs broker professionÓ.
Section 28 also provides that no person shall practice or
offer to practice the profession, or use the title unless
one is a registered licensed customs broker.
CAO 3-2006-A, however, gave express authority to customs brokerage
corporations and freight forwarding firms to lodge customs
entries and/or use their employee-customs representatives
to transact business at the BOC.
Marina
to vessel operators: Use government facilities to cut costs
THE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina)
wants vessel operators to discontinue operating cargo-handling
facilities, such as container yards, to lower business expenditures
and ultimately shipping cost.
Marina said the price of keeping these facilities, which are
usually 60% unutilized, are factored in the computation of
shipping fees that push up logistics cost even higher.
ÒShip operators should do away with these cargo-handling
amenities. Instead, they should use government facilities
or enter into a sharing agreement with other shipping lines
to save on cost,Ó Marina administrator Vicente Suazo,
Jr. told PortCalls.
ÒShippers and vessel operators just have to learn how
to do it properly. These are business practices that have
long been observed in the international trade,Ó Suazo
explained.
ÒGovernment is ready to help but needs a formal request
from the sector to determine priorities,Ó he added.
Based on Marina estimates, shipping lines could save up 20%
if they do not maintain little-used facilities or if they
enter into a code-sharing agreement with other shipping lines.
Suazo said the savings could translate into a 10%-15% drop
in logistics costs.
Logistics costs could dip even more if shippers also change
their shipping methods to complement the measures.
What shippers should do, Suazo explained, is to observe cargo
pooling or clustering, cargo consolidation and code sharing
to achieve economies of scale.
ÒShippers should consider cargo pooling to leverage
for volume discounts from shipping lines,Ó Suazo said.
He said these practices would not only make shipping of goods
cheaper but also make Philippine products compete better with
imported goods.
Late last year, Marina pilot tested cargo pooling and code-sharing
using the Strong Republic Nautical Highway with Batangas as
the jump-off point to Calapan and Roxas in Mindoro, Caticlan
in Aklan, Cebu to Tagbilaran and Tubigon in Bohol. For the
long haul, the agency implemented the project using Manila-Davao
and Manila-Cagayan de Oro with stop-overs in Iloilo or Bacolod.
THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)
reported export sales of $36.07 billion in 2006, up 12.63%
over the 2005 figures.
PEZA director-general Lilia de Lima, in a report, said that
companies in the ecozones performed better in 2006 than in
2005, when export receipts registered $32.02 billion.
The report added that the public economic zones located in
Cavite, Baguio City, Bataan, and Mactan, registered a combined
9.17% increase in export receipts to $8.132 billion in 2006
from $7.448 billion in the previous year.
Private ecozones posted an 11.46% growth to $26.94 billion
last year from $24.17 billion in 2005.
Export earnings of the information technology parks and buildings
rose 144.8% to $1 million from $410,089 in 2005, the report
added.
The Baguio City economic zone, the largest government-owned
economic zone, registered the fastest growth, at 20%, to $3.548
billion last year compared with $2.954 billion in 2005.
Firms inside the privately-owned Gateway Business Park in
Cavite posted the greatest export contribution amounting to
$6.567 billion, a 13% hike from its 2005 performance of $5.787
billion.
Intel Technology Philippines, Inc., located in the same park
just south of Metro Manila, said 2006 export sales reached
$4.83 billion, including the value of consigned raw materials.
The company said it expects its 2007 export sales to grow
further.
The Laguna Technopark, Inc. reported a 6% growth to $6.013
million last year.
Carmelray Industrial Park II, however, suffered a 12.036%
decrease in export performance from 2006 to $1.070 billion
from a high of $1.217 billion.
