Task force eyed to regulate
int'l carriers' 'hidden' fees
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is seeking
an audience with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
to push for the creation of an inter-agency task force to
police or regulate supposedly hidden fees billed by international
carriers.
PPA has already forwarded a letter to the DTI and the Office
of the President for the issuance of an executive order creating
a task force to determine the extent of hidden fees collected
by international carriers.
The supposed hidden fees are the terminal handling charge,
bill of lading fee, container cleaning fee and the facilities
administration recovery fee. Based on Philippine Shippers’
Bureau records, the THC alone has cost Philippine shippers
approximately $130 million to $200 million per year.
PPA assistant general manager for corporate affairs and special
projects Raul Santos claimed the hidden charges jack up freight
cost by 30% to 40%.
The proposed task force will comprise representatives from
the DTI, PPA, Department of Finance, National Economic and
Development Authority and the private sector.
The PPA said the creation of the task force is the most practical
solution in helping the ailing export sector, and not suspension
of the wharfage fee as earlier proposed by the DTI.
Santos said scrapping the P250 to P500 per container wharfage
fee will do little in arresting exporters’ woes considering
the strength of the peso.
“The export wharfage fee has only a minimal impact on
the entire shipping cost compared to the ease we could get
once these (hidden) shipping line charges are reduced if not
eliminated,” Santos explained, noting the move will
also invigorate the import sector.
DTI wants the wharfage fee suspended at least for the next
six months to aid exporters hurting from the strong Philippine
peso. In addition, the department is looking at a 5% lower
trucking rate for the same period. The DTI is now working
with different trucking groups such as the 500-member Confederation
of Truckers Association of the Philippines to determine measures
to cushion the impact of lower trucking rates.
“We are suggesting the creation of an inter-agency task
force through an EO to control these rates levied by international
carriers and to do away with legal impediments in the suspension
of the wharfage fee,” Santos stressed.
“What we feel is that the President is the only one
authorized to increase or reduce our charges but not to suspend
it,” he added.
NCC
convinced one operator good for North Harbor port?
THE single-operator scheme being proposed
by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in the privatization
of the North Harbor gained ground after the National Competitiveness
Council (NCC) reportedly agreed to the scheme.
According to a source sitting on the National Ports Advisory
Council (NPAC) where the issue was discussed late last month,
the NCC was convinced that the North Harbor gets adequate
competition from South Harbor and Harbour Centre.
The source said NCC chief Meneleo Carlos agreed to the scheme
after considering domestic traffic in South Harbor and Harbour
Centre, factors that were not previously considered when the
NCC and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)
crafted their position pushing for the multi-operator scheme.
It may be recalled that the PCCI lodged a case on the North
Harbor privatization with the NCC.
The port’s privatization has been delayed for almost
five years now by wrangling on whether it should have one
or many operators.
The PortCalls source said the NCC for now wants to first see
the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the privatization, particularly
fees.
He explained that the NCC will only allow the single-operator
scheme if PPA prioritizes the lowest bidder, and if PPA drops
its interest when it comes to revenue.
The PPA expects to collect some P200 million in revenues annually
or about P16 million a month as its share from port operations.
Under the present TOR, the PPA will bid out the terminal to
a single operator. But earlier, the plan was to divide the
facility into four terminals—two main cargo terminals
competing with each other, a passenger terminal, and terminal
for trampers. Each of the terminals will have an operator
that will undergo the government’s bidding process.
This time, however, the North Harbor privatization will still
have those components but will all be under a single operator
that would market the facilities to other concessionaires.
Nenaco
revenues up, but net income down for Jan-Feb
DEBT-saddled shipping firm Negros Navigation
(Nenaco) posted positive revenues for the first two months
of the year propelled by the sale of two ageing vessels.
In a report, Nenaco said its net income surged more than four
fold to P114.33 million for the first two months of 2007 compared
to a P24-million net loss posted in the same period last year.
The positive revenues are not expected to be enough to put
Nenaco in the black. It expects a net loss of P33.16 million
for January to February 2007.
Revenues from the passage and freight businesses reached P237.86
million for the period from last year’s P281.22 million.
Nenaco sold the 4,494-gross registered ton (GRT) MV Princess
of Negros, built in 1972, for about $1 million in January
this year. The 5,342-GRT MV St. Exekiel Moreno was sold in
December last year for $1.67 million. The two were delivered
to their new owners this month.
If not for proceeds from the vessels, the company would have
incurred a net loss of P3.8 million for January and February.
Similarly, selling the vessels even much earlier would have
added P10 million more to the company’s net income as
a result of the lay up cost, which was unbudgeted.
The sale brought down the company’s fuel-to-revenue
ration to 36% from 46% last year. “This brings the company
closer to its desired fuel to revenue ration and effectively
aligning itself with the industry leaders,” the shipping
line said in its report.
In January and February, only two of its Ropax (RoRo and passenger
vessels) and one cargo vessel were fully operational as two
others underwent drydocking.
This year, Nenaco needs to sell MV Mary the Queen of Peace
and MV San Lorenzo Ruiz.
Nenaco has benefited from the Philippine Liner and Shipping
Association-initiated increase in passage rates from P911
to P1,024 per passenger. It also increased group sales from
schools speciali-zing in hotel and restaurant management,
maritime, and tourism.
Freight volume for the first two months of the year increased
to 8,190 TEUs, 15% higher than the target. “Volume was
higher than expected due to the maximization of cargo available
bottoms by accepting break-bulk and rolling cargoes, thereby
offsetting the negative effect on lower average rate per TEU
and the reduction of the number of trips,” the company
explained.
CLARK International Airport Corp. (CIAC)
is set to inaugurate this month two state-of- the-art radars
for the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) amounting
to $10 million.
President Arroyo will be the guest of honor for the inauguration
of the radars, tentatively scheduled after Lent.
Victor Jose Luciano, CIAC president and CEO, said the radars,
which use electromagnetic waves, can identify the range, altitude,
direction, or speed of aircraft as far as Manila to Laguna
from Clark.
The equipment were bought from Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS),
a major European integrated defense electronics company and
an equal shares joint venture between BAE Systems and Finmeccanica
until its dissolution on May 3, 2005. The Italian operations
of AMS became SELEX Sistemi Integrati.
Luciano said Ex-Im Bank and Italy’s export credit agency,
Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (SACE), and the
Philippine Export Import Credit Agency (PhilEXIM) guaranteed
the loans.
The Ex-Im Bank and SACE provide one-stop trade-finance services
to buyers in third countries purchasing both United States
and Italian goods and services.
TWO months after announcing its interest
in operating another port in South America, port operator
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) has
landed a concession agreement to operate a port in Ecuador.
In a report to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI said the
Guayaquil Port Authority has declared it the winner of a 20-year
public service concession for the container and multipurpose
terminal at the Port of Guayaquil in Ecuador. The agreement
will be sealed in May this year.
Guayaquil is the commercial heart of Ecuador
The port handles 93% of container traffic in/out of the country
and 62% of total import-export cargo, representing 453,000
TEUs and 5.1 million tons respectively, making it the 13th
largest port in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Located in the west coast of South America close to the most
important north-south shipping routes, the Port of Guayaquil
is of great importance for the logistics of main ocean carriers
in the US, Europe, South America and Far East trade lanes
and offers a secure area for berthing.
The port’s container terminal has three berths of 185
meters each and 290,879 square meters of paved area for containers
while the multipurpose terminal has five piers of 185 m each
85,234 square meters of warehouse for general cargo, including
4,086 square meters for the refrigerated cargo and 5,408 square
meters for dangerous cargo.
Its bulk terminal has one marginal pier of 155 meters, three
silos for 8,900 cubic meters, belt conveyors, two warehouses
of 900 metric tons capacity each, one grain warehouse for
30,000 metric tons, one vegoil tank of 240 cubic meters capacity
and three of 9,800 cubic meters suitable for heavy liquids
such as molasses.
With another South American port already in the bag, ICTSI
now focuses on its second and third target areas for expansion
this year — China and India.
ICTSI also operates the Tecon Suape Container Terminal in
Brazil, Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) in Poland, and took
over the Naha port in Japan and the Port of Madagascar in
Toamasina in 2005. Last year, it bought 95% of the total outstanding
shares (equity) in PT Makassar Terminal Services in Indonesia
and also took over cargo-handling operations over the Tartous
port in Syria late last year. ICTSI is also not dropping the
possibility of restarting negotiations for the Guererro Port
in Guam.
The company has also operated ports in Argentina, Mexico,
Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Thailand from 1994 to
2001.
At the moment, 66% of the revenues of ICTSI come from its
operations in Manila International Container Terminal and
36% from its overseas terminals, particularly from Brazil
and Poland.
Data showed that TSA handled 135,415 TEUs as of the third
quarter of 2006, 24% short of its 2005 figure. BCT, on the
other hand, has recorded 297,257 TEUs as of the third quarter
of 2006, which is also about 24% short of its 2005 figure.
MICT, meanwhile, has handled more than 1.3 million TEUs for
the first three quarters, also the same percentage short of
its 2005 figure.
SHAREHOLDERS of Aboitiz One, Inc. (Aone)
have approved the company’s merger with wholly-owned
subsidiary Aboitiz Logistics, Inc. (ALI) whereby Aone will
be the surviving corporation.
Aone and ALI are the logistics arms of shipping firm Aboitiz
Transport Systems.
Lilian Cariaso, chief information officer, in a statement
said the merger is expected to further improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of the delivery of services of Aone as a unified
group.
Aone provides one-stop shop logistics solutions and transportation
services. It is engaged in the business of air, land and sea
transportation, such as but not limited to, the carrying and
transporting of any and all kinds of goods and cargo, chartering,
and acting as courier of mails, letters and pouches of all
kinds. Through Aone’s various subsidiaries and affiliates,
it provides seamless total logistics solutions to its customers
via air, land and sea.
ALI provides various supply chain management and logistics
services such as freight forwarding, container yard management,
warehousing and distribution, as well as trucking.
For January to September 2006, ATS posted a net loss of P373.5
million and a 9% decline in consolidated revenues to P8.3
billion. This was due to the reduction in fleet capacity and
a slack in the international charter business of its subsidiary,
Jebsen management Ltd., as a result of unfavorable market
conditions.
Subic
port privatization on track, says SBMA chief
THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)
is confident it can hand over management and operation of
Subic port to a private operator as scheduled despite encountering
some hitches at the start of the port modernization project.
SBMA chair Feliciano Salonga said the $215-million Port Development
Project is 91.793% complete as of March 15, 2007 and on track
to meet its June 2007 deadline.
“At the rate it’s going, it will meet the target
date of completion. In fact, a positive variance of 2.572%
was noted, meaning, the construction is a little ahead of
schedule,” he said.
Early this week, SBMA unloaded two more goose neck-type quay
gantry cranes to join two others previously installed at the
port terminal in Leyte Wharf. Each gantry crane has a load-bearing
capacity of 40.6-tons.
The acquisition of the four gantry cranes from Japan is a
major component of the Port Development Project that will
increase the port capacity of the container terminals when
in full operation to 600,000 TEUs from the present 100,000
TEUs.
Through a concession agreement with the SBMA, Subic Bay International
Terminal Corporation (SBITC) will submit a technical and financial
proposal to operate the New Container Terminal (NCT)-1 according
to the Terms of Reference prepared by the SBMA. Thus, upon
agreement between both parties, the SBITC proposal will be
subjected to a Swiss challenge bidding where it will be pitted
against other bidders. The operator for NCT-2 will be selected
after a three-week international competitive bidding.
NCT-1 facility will then be turned over to the winning bidder,
including the container yard, four gantry cranes and other
buildings. The winner will build its own administration building,
engineering office, truck holding area, refueling station
and field office.
