Lufthansa Cargo expands
Philippine warehouse
LUFTHANSA Cargo has expanded its warehouse
in the Philippines to service more clients and accommodate
more cargo.
Country Handling Manager Carl Jeffrey Tiu said the warehouse
expansion is one of the major thrusts of Lufthansa Cargo Philippines
in 2007. ÒCustomer satisfaction is our main goal. With
the new warehouse, we expect to service our clients better,Ó
he said.
Country Sales Manager Daryll Modelo added, ÒLufthansa
is continually improving on customer service towards better
quality. With this our guide, plus a very competitive price,
work and aggressive marketing despite ongoing business threats,
our Filipino clients can expect better quality service from
the company in the future.Ó
He added the expanded warehouse will make the Philippines
one of the better contributors to cargo volume and revenues
for Lufthansa Cargo in Southeast Asia.
Thomas Eggert, Regional Director Sales and Handling for Southeast
Asia and Australia, who attended the formal launch of the
facility, said that the expansion could result in the Philippine
office overshooting its performance this year.
ÒThe company invested massively on the ‘dirty
side’ of its operations in the Philippines. This is
for customers to get their money back through better service,Ó
said Eggert.
The expanded warehouse features a live animal station, 24/7
import document releasing service, dangerous goods area, closed-circuit
TVs, and a customer lounge with several workstations, among
others.
Lufthansa Cargo Philippines’s top clients include ABX
Logistics, Expeditors Philippines, Kintetsu World Express,
Airlift Asia, Kuehne + Nagel, DHL Global Forwarding, Agility,
Schenker and UPS-Supply Chain Solutions.
Recently, Lufthansa Cargo also opened a charter outlet in
Singapore also to further enhance business in the Philippines
by offering charter solutions in intra-Asia, transpacific
and other major routes worldwide.
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Truckers:
No to cut in rates
TRUCKERS are against the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) proposal to slash trucking rates as this,
they said, will send them down to the path of non-profitability.
The truckers, led by the Allied Transport Group (ATG) and
the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines,
said that although the year started out positively for the
sector with some increase in cargo volume, such is just barely
enough for them to survive.
ÒWe cannot take in additional cuts as the current traffic
will only allow us to register a flat to low single-digit
growth,Ó an ATG official told PortCalls.
He added a cut in rates will dampen the little spike in activity
presently enjoyed by truckers. As it is, the truckers are
not optimistic that the spike will hold for much longer than
three months.
ÒCuttingÉ our current rates even for just six
monthsÉ would be a big blow to us especially now that
prices of fuel have again started to inch up,Ó the
two groups explained.
In exchange for at least a 5% cut in trucking rates also for
the next six months, the DTI is negotiating with the Metro
Manila Council, the Metro Manila Development Authority and
the local governments of Metro Manila and nearby cities and
provinces that the truckers be provided immunity routes that
are free from any apprehension aside from violations of the
No Overloading Law.
The DTI is looking at slashing trucking rates as well as other
shipping charges to bring down logistics costs to help the
export industry, affected by the strengthening Philippine
peso.
The department has already asked the Philippine Ports Authority
to reduce or even suspend the collection of the P200-P500
per container wharfage fee for at least six months to allow
exporters to recover.
As it is, the truckers are asking for another round of rate
increase after hiking their rates by some 12% last year due
to higher fuel, spare parts and labor costs. They are also
batting for a synchronized and shorter truck ban within and
along cities in the Metro and nearby provinces.
They claimed the unsynchronized truck ban has resulted in
longer down time, delays in the movement of products, and
higher rate of spoilage – all of which spell higher
overall cost.
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Q2 introduction of single-window transaction at BOC
BY the second quarter, the Bureau of Customs
(BOC) will roll out the National Single-Window Transaction
(NSWT) among government agencies involved in BOC operations.
The NSWT is a prelude to the imposition of the Asean Single-Window
Transaction (ASWT) system for enforcement by the Philippines
in 2008.
Customs deputy commissioner for Management Information System
and Technology Group Alexander Arevalo, at the sidelines of
a BOC conference, told PortCalls the bureau is now finalizing
procedures for pilot testing of the NSWT between the BOC,
the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine National Police,
Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies, the Land
Transportation Office and the Philippine Ports Authority in
time.
ÒWe are now harmonizing procedures with the seven agencies
that have agreed to adopt the NSWT and by the second half
of the year, we may see enhanced procedures within these agencies
gearing toward paperless transactions,Ó Arevalo explained.
A similar agreement is also being hammered out with the Board
of Investments, the Bureau of Product Standards and the Bureau
of Import Services.
In addition, the BOC is developing a cellphone-based technology
for port users to have instant access to databases of agencies
part of the NSWT.
The agency has so far delivered computers to the DA to harmonize
its technology with the BOC before the dry run starts.
The single-window plan will link all government agencies to
customs offices so that importers will no longer secure documentation
for their imports and exports from one government agency to
another, in the process reducing red tape.
The traditional method, which requires traders to secure voluminous
documents and takes weeks before shipments are released, will
soon be a thing of the past, Arevalo added.
Under the plan, all transactions will be done through computers
or mobile phones. Person-to-person business dealings in the
BOC will be reduced, cutting down graft and corruption.
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BOC gets $10M grant for database warehousing
THE Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) will give the Philippines a $10-million technical assistance
grant to create a database for the Bureau of Customs (BOC),
according to Customs deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo
The database will allow the BOC to better use statistics,
data, and other historical information in trend setting and
simulations to properly determine its tax take.
The information would include background data on all Customs
personnel, customs brokers that deal with the BOC, shippers,
shipping line, and all everyone else that transacts with the
BOC.
A design team will arrive from Japan by September to start
the project.
Arevalo said the database will complement the non-intrusive
container inspection system and further reduce cases of smuggling
at the same time increase revenue collection.
ÒIf you have accurate information, you will know what
to do next,Ó Arevalo said.
This year, BOC needs to collect P228.2 billion, much higher
than the previous year’s P196-billion target set by
the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee.
According to estimates, the BOC should be collecting at least
P450 billion a year if not for illegal activities at the port,
including misdeclaration of cargo and other technical smuggling
activities.
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