CAVITE, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (Calabarzon)
shippers will have faster access to Batangas Port in two months
with the expected opening of an arterial road to the port,
according to infrastructure monitoring task force director
general Serge Remonde in a recent conference on airport infrastructure.
The opening of the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) by
December will be further boosted by the December completion
of the international container terminal or Phase II of the
Batangas Port Modernization Program.
STAR was constructed under a build-operate-transfer scheme
and involves the construction of a four-lane toll road, including
interchanges, fences, overpasses and toll facilities.
The P2.511-billion project will hasten the development of
Batangas City port as an alternate to the Port of Manila.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said civil
and marine works under Phase 2 Package 1 of the Batangas Port
development project is for completion by December 18, 2007.
Funded by official development assistance from the Japan Bank
for International Cooperation, the second phase consists of
dredging and reclamation, construction of two foreign container
cargo berths, reconstruction of the general cargo berth at
the first phase area with provision for stacking yard, container
freight station, terminal building, utilities, access road,
and other support facilities.
Berthing facilities consist of three concrete piers: Pier
1 (center) 127-meter (m) long, 15m wide; Pier 2 (north) 105m
long, 15m wide; and Pier 3 (south) 84m long, 15m wide. The
port has seven roll-on roll-off ramps.
THE Philippine Interisland Shipping Association
(PISA) is proposing the creation of a special purpose company
to undertake the immediate modernization of North Harbor.
Former PISA chair and Magsaysay Maritime Corp. chief executive
Doris Magsaysay-Ho said the “special purpose vehicle
to be created by the PPA (Philippine Ports Authority) will
be in charge of the modernization of the North Harbor while
waiting for the private sector to take over management and
operation of the port.”
PISA, in a proposal taken up at a recent roundtable discussion
at the Department of Transportation and Communications, said:
“The special purpose vehicle could source the needed
funds from international lending institutions such as the
Japan Bank of International Cooperation, Japan International
Cooperation Agency and other overseas development assistance
programs to start immediate modernization as it seems that
it would take some time before a contract is awarded to an
investor.”
It added the PPA could use the Singapore experience as a model.
The Singapore government has in the past created special purpose
companies, operating them then later taking the companies
private.
The PPA has deferred all action related to the North Harbor
privatization and will instead focus its attention on the
suit filed by joint venture partners Harbour Centre Port Terminals,
Inc and Metro Pacific Investment Corp, the only eligible entity
in the first round of bidding.
ATS posts net income of P480.8M for first nine months
ABOITIZ Transport System Corp. (ATS) reported
a net income of P480.8 million in the first nine months of
the year, a reversal from last year’s net loss of P353.2
million.
ATS said its income from operations improved considerably
to P119.8 million for the period in review from a loss of
P274.9 million in 2006.
Earnings before interest and depreciation and amortization
(EBITDA) increased 39% from P723.9 million in 2006 to P1 billion
in 2007.
The company attributed the improvement to “continuous
aggressive cost-saving measures” and “increasing
operating efficiencies… realized across the organization.”
Total consolidated revenues hit P8.3 billion, the same as
the previous year’s.
Total costs and expenses dropped 5% or P388.3 million to P8.2
billion in September 2007.
Last month, ATS sold SuperFerry 15 generating proceeds of
P800.2 million. To date, three vessels have been sold reflecting
total gains of P622.7 million. The proceeds of the sale were
used to pay down debts of P1.7 billion.
Despite capacity reduction as a result of the vessel sale,
ATS said its freight revenues reached P5 billion, the same
level as last year, due to higher revenues generated by the
company’s international chartering business.
Passage revenues, however, dropped 11% versus the same period
in 2006 due to stiff competition.
ATS president Enrique Aboitiz, Jr. earlier said efforts to
liquidate debt, remove interest costs, rationalize cost structures,
and increase the earning capacity of all assets, are all part
of a strategy to build a new ATS in 2007.
The Aboitiz Group celebrates its 100th year in the transport
business this year.
SHIPPERS from southern Philippines want the
government to immediately reduce if not abolish the terminal
handling charge (THC) being billed by international shipping
lines.
The Mindanao Federation of Shippers Association (Minfesa)
and the Philippine Exporters Federation in Mindanao in a paper
said the continuous imposition of the THC is eroding the competitiveness
of Philippine products.
The shippers’ stance is hinged on a Philippines Shipper’s
Bureau study which found that most THC components are either
redundant or a “double charge”.
“We urge the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),
together with the Maritime Industry Authority and the Philippine
Ports Authority to immediately craft a law reducing or abolishing
the THC as Mindanao shippers for many years have bear the
brunt of paying higher shipping costs to and from Manila and
overseas destinations,” the group said.
“The imposition of THC by shipping lines and conferences
was made without prior consultations with shippers and/or
shippers’ councils/group. Even when shippers vigorously
demanded for such consultations or discussions, none took
place,” it stressed.
The THC for the Philippine-US trade, they said, was $70 per
TEU in 1988 but this has gone up to $104 by 2006.
Government figures, on the other hand, showed that the THC
has cost Philippine shippers approximately $130 million to
$200 million per year. This has increased at an annual average
rate of 8% (under the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement),
10%-12% (Far Eastern Freight Conference) and 24% (Intra-Asia
Discussion Agreement) with no formal announcement and notice
among shippers.
THC accounts for 30%-50% of the shipping cost of the Philippine-ASEAN
and East Asian container trade, the government said.
Minfesa said the Trade Secretary, by virtue of an executive
order which authorized his department to implement programs
geared towards the overseas promotion of Philippine exporters,
has the power to adopt policies that would lead to the abolition
and/or reduction of THC.
The DTI will soon form an oversight committee to police charges
billed by international carriers. This follows results of
a study that pointed to carriers as the reason for high shipping
costs, a charge denied by the lines.
MAGSAYSAY-owned Lorenzo Shipping Corp. (LSC)
has taken delivery of one of three vessels, part of a refleeting
program started two years ago when Magsaysay took over controlling
stake at LSC.
LSC officer-in-charge Roberto Umali, who also heads sister
company National Marine Corp, said the new vessel will provide
LSC with a more efficient and faster service for its Manila-Cebu-Cagayan
de Oro-Manila calls.
Acquired for $8.3 million, the 500-TEU 11-year-old vessel
began its voyage last Thursday (Nov. 1). She will be formally
launched on November 13.
LSC controls about 20% of the domestic containerized market
with its seven dedicated freighters.
The company is set to sell one of its oldest vessels, the
Lorcon Mindanao, for about $2 million, in January to finance
the acquisition of a younger and more efficient vessel next
year.
Aside from acquiring new vessels, LSC will continue to purchase
new containers to replace old ones, and fabricate more hog
vans or specialized containers for the delivery of livestock,
to further complement 60 re-designed hog vans introduced last
year.
The company is also set to upgrade vessel computers and install
low-cost wireless devices for direct, faster and more reliable
exchange of information on vessel positions, parts and services
requirements, preventive maintenance and repairs.
PCCI to help PPA look for funds for dredging projects
WHILE waiting for a new operator for the
North Harbor, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(PCCI) will help the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) source
needed funds to finance dredging at the port as well as the
Pasig River.
“We have to link. The government has many projects but…
they don’t have the fund as of now… what we’re
trying to do is link up with our board council of advisers,
as all of them are looking for a project to champion,”
PCCI president Samuel Lim, at the sidelines of the recently
concluded Philippine Business Conference.
The North Harbor dredging will allow the port to accommodate
larger vessels while the Pasig River dredging is mainly for
better flood control.
The PPA has deferred all action related to the privatization
of the North Harbor. This is until the court case filed by
joint venture partners Harbour Centre Port Terminals, Inc
and Metro Pacific Investment Corp — so far only eligible
bidder — is resolved.
