Parallel run for advance IFM submission set for Sept
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is set to do
a parallel run of the 12-hour inward foreign manifest (IFM)
requirement next month in time for full implementation in
the last quarter of the year.
Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales, in an interview, said
the bureau is just waiting for the technical requirements
from its value-added service providers (VASPs) before starting
the test.
So far, the only accredited VASP is InterCommerce Network
Services. The three other applicants, Crimson Logic-Philippines,
E-Konek Pilipinas and sister firm Cargo Data Exchange Center
are still under technical evaluation.
Morales said the bureau is scheduling a test with the Association
of International Shipping Lines (AISL) in the next few weeks
after the latter completed its own system for the IFM.
“The process involves money as well as vital details.
We have to make sure that all possible eventualities will
be addressed first before we start the full implementation
of the advance information,” he stressed.
“The IFM depends on the integrity of the system of our
VASPs so we have to determine first that their system can
handle such vital information before we start implementation.
Nonetheless, we have scheduled (the advance IFM) implementation
within the last quarter of the year. By then I think the VASP
system will be fully tested and ready,” Morales added.
The BOC is also completing the implementing rules and regulations
of the advance manifest requirement for possible publication
next month.
The parallel testing of the IFM involves the electronic and
actual submission of the manifest to the BOC for counterchecking
to determine how fast the VASP system would react to voluminous
entries.
Customs is requiring all shippers and vessel operators to
submit the inward cargo manifest not later than 12 hours prior
to the ship’s arrival in any Philippine port to evaluate
the risk of smuggling, and possibly terrorism.
PRIVATE port operator Harbour Centre Port
Terminals, Inc. (HCPTI) has an inside track on the 25-year
operation and management contract for the North Harbor.
This scenario seems to be gaining ground as the Philippine
Ports Authority (PPA) readies its guidelines on a negotiated
bid in case no entity other than HCPTI and joint venture partner
Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) qualifies in the resumption
of bidding for the North Harbor this week.
It may be recalled that the PPA has automatically elevated
HCPTI and MPIC to the list of eligible bidders for the port
project, after the joint venture emerged as the only one qualified
in the first round of bidding, later declared a failure by
the PPA.
PPA general manager Atty. Oscar Sevilla, in an interview after
the emergency PPA Board meeting late last week, explained
that the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) has recommended
a negotiated bid, since it expects little interest from other
parties in the second round of bidding.
He said the PPA corporate counsel has been ordered to craft
negotiated bidding guidelines that will be tabled for Board
approval in another meeting this week.
“SBAC wants a negotiated bid if the second round fails
again and I think this is feasible. We just have to determine
how to extract the best rate possible from the lone bidder,”
Sevilla said.
“Nonetheless, we will push through with the planned
competitive bidding. All HCPTI has to do is to wait and see.
Either way, the firm will have an inside track on the North
Harbor,” he added.
As of presstime Friday, the SBAC has pushed plans to restart
the privatization process to this week pending approval of
several revisions in the process by the PPA Board. The resumption
was to have started Wednesday last week.
Among the issues that need PPA Board approval are the paid-up
capitalization and cargo-handling experience of bidders as
well as the tariff.
The PPA Board will meet this week to address these issues
as well as other eventualities including a second failure
of bidding, and the creation of a committee to handle the
negotiated bid with HCPTI-MPIC.
The port agency will publish the invitation to bid this week,
optimistic that those which joined the first bidding such
as Asian Terminals, Inc. (ATI), Magsaysay Maritime Corp. (MMC),
Pier 8 Arrastre and Stevedoring Services and Prudential Customs
Brokerage will participate again.
ATI and Prudential were disqualified in the first round due
to lack of eligibility requirements. MMC backed out while
Pier 8 was a no-show.
To be auctioned off are the port’s container terminal,
general cargo terminal and passenger terminal complex, which
will be considered as one operational area.
The North Harbor’s Terminal 1 will service roll on-roll
off container and passenger vessels; Terminal 2, container
and passenger vessels; and Terminal 3, conventional, non-containerized,
bulk or breakbulk vessels and passenger vessels.
SUBIC Bay Shipyard Consortium (SBSC) will
be infusing P200 million to set up a new shipyard, according
to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
The Norwegian company will build a shipbuilding and repair
facility at the former US Navy Ship Repair Facility (SRF),
also being developed by another firm as a terminal for international
cruise ships.
SBSC president and CEO Nils-Ottar Lonoy said the firm will
be using the “slipway and skid system” to accommodate
vessels of up to 90 meters long for dry-docking and repair.
Construction of the shipyard will begin next month and the
entire shipbuilding facility is expected to be completed in
three to five years, Lonoy said.
He said the company would also be conducting skills training
for Filipino ship repair workers to complete the 500 manpower
requirement for the project.
“We really see the necessity to upgrade the domestic
fleet,” Lonoy said, adding that the shipyard project
was conceptualized in 2005 to take advantage of “excellent
pier facilities” at the SRF.
During the contract signing, SBMA chair Feliciano Salonga
said the SBMA sees great prospects in the shipbuilding industry
as it has been included in the government’s investment
priority program.
Salonga admitted the $1.68-billion shipyard project of Hanjin
Heavy Industries and Construction Corp. in Subic is a factor
that is attracting more players in the international shipping
industry.
The Hanjin project is expected to become the fourth largest
shipyard in the world, with projected annual sales and export
value of $3.6 billion.
Subic offers a competitive advantage to players in the shipping
industry because of its integrated logistics facilities for
storage, cargo loading and unloading, packaging, processing
and information, and transportation.
In addition, the SBMA is offering incentives to locators like
tax- and duty-free importation, a 5% corporate tax on gross
income, unrestricted entry of foreign investment, no foreign
exchange control, and four to six years income tax holiday
for qualified investors.
AFTER oil imports and luxury vehicles, the
Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now setting its sights on imported
ships used by the local shipping industry.
The BOC and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) have
signed a memorandum of agreement to crack down on ship owners
with import tax deficiencies.
The agreement is an offshoot of the strengthened post-entry
audit program of the BOC seen to help the agency hit its P230-billion
collection target this year.
During the signing of the agreement last week, Customs commissioner
Napoleon Morales said he expects to generate P1 billion from
the collection of import tax deficiencies of ships, the same
amount expected from imported cars. For the oil industry,
P10 billion is eyed.
“The MOA was signed so that the imported ships and vessels
will not be given registration by the Marina without prior
clearance from the BOC,” Morales said.
The MOA covers all foreign and imported ships and other vessels
under the Philippine registry that transport passengers and
cargo in the domestic trade. It excludes military or government
seacraft.
Marina administrator Vicente Suazo, Jr. said the authority
will only register a vessel if the owners have a Certificate
of Conversion (COC) from the BOC. The COC states that the
imported ship passed a customs house and that all corresponding
duties and taxes were paid.
All imported ships and vessels previously registered with
Marina will also be subject to the BOC post-entry audit to
check for deficiencies in duties and taxes.
The BOC penalizes importers up to eight times its tax deficiency
particularly if fraud is committed. The bureau encourages
owners to take advantage of its voluntary disclosure program
to do away with these penalties.
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has
identified products exempt from wharfage fee collection.
In a memorandum to all port users, PPA assistant general manager
for operations Ben Cecilio said only Philippine Export Zone
Authority (PEZA)-registered firms are exempt from the payment
of export wharfage on registered export products.
The exemption on payment of import wharfage, on the other
hand, only covers goods that are direct components of registered
export products.
“In the absence of any law that exempts imported goods
from wharfage dues and unless such imported goods are direct
components of the product to be exported, the goods are subject
to wharfage,” Cecilio explained in the memo.
He said firms may not invoke a provision under the implementing
rules and regulations of Republic Act 7619 on imported goods
or merchandise of ecozone export and free trade enterprises
as they are not subject to customs and internal revenue laws
and regulations and local tax ordinances.
Earlier, PPA extended the 90% cut in wharfage fee for export
products until the end of the year to help cushion the impact
of a strong peso on the country’s export industry.
The wharfage fee for containerized export cargo is now at
P20 for a 20-footer and P40 for a 40-footer.
PPA agreed to the extension despite expected revenue losses
of P120 to P150 million until December. The first time the
reduced wharfage fee was implemented, from April to July,
the port authority lost about P60 million in revenues.
This time, all ports are required to submit a monthly monitoring
report to include savings of exporters. This will form the
basis for a decision on whether an extension will once again
be granted after December.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will pilot test
certain aspects of the National Single Window (NSW) this month
in time for the testing of electronic submission of the Asean
Customs Declaration Form within the quarter.
Customs deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo said the BOC
has started to harmonize all documents involving licenses
and clearances from seven agencies under the Department of
Agriculture (DA) into a single form.
Included in the testing are the Philippine Coconut Authority,
Bureau of Fisheries, Quarantine, Bureau of Plant Industries,
Fertilizer and National Dairy.
The BOC is also collating all information needed to form a
single document for use by the agency and the Bureau of Internal
Revenue, Bureau of Import Service, Bureau of Product Standards,
the Philippine Shippers Bureau and the Car Manufacturers of
the Philippines, Inc.
Arevalo said the test will determine the possibility of including
in the NSW the automated vehicle export system as was done
in automated import permits for export processing zones.
“Hopefully, we could get the result within the month
and use it to successfully link all these agencies to the
BOC in time for the target implementation of some aspects
of the Asean Single Window (ASW) this quarter,” Arevalo
said.
The BOC has already checked at least 10 computer terminals
at the cooperating agencies and is set to begin live data
exchange in the next few days.
The NSWT is a prelude to the imposition of the Asean Single-Window
Transaction (ASWT) for enforcement by the Philippines in 2008.
The Philippine NSW will be the model in Asean.
The single-window plan will link all government agencies to
customs offices where importers will no longer secure import
and export documentation from one government agency to another,
thus reducing red tape.
The traditional method, which requires traders to secure voluminous
documents taking weeks before their shipments are released,
will soon be a thing of the past. Under the plan, all transactions
will be done through computers or mobile phones while person-to-person
business dealings in the BOC will be reduced, cutting down
graft and corruption.
