THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will expand operations
of its three accredited value-added service providers (VASPs)
to three sub-ports by month’s end.
“By the end of the November, we will be expanding the
reach of the VASPs to the sub ports of Subic, Clark and Cagayan
de Oro that will led to the eventual phase-out of the EECs
(entry encoding centers) in those areas also by the end of
the month,” Customs deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo
said at the sidelines of this week’s VASP briefing and
seminar organized by the Federation of Accredited Customs
Brokers and Forwarders of the Philippines, Inc.
“As early as two months ago, BOC could have expanded
the VASP operations but decided to defer it until the resolution
of several issues such as VASP gateway operations in provinces
as well as proper information on EEC workers to be displaced,”
Arevalo, who also chairs the VASP accreditation committee,
added.
The EECs are being phased out through direct orders from the
Office of the President. The shutdown is meant to reduce human
error in customs entries as well as give the accredited VASPs
free hand to handle customs data.
By end-November, the number of closed EECs in various ports
would have jumped to eight. The eight EECs handle 80 to 85%
of all lodgments at the BOC. The remaining five EECs, handling
the balance of transactions at the BOC, are scheduled for
shutdown by the year-end.
The EECs at the Port of Manila and Manila International Container
Port have been closed since October 23 while the EEC at the
Ninoy Aquino International Airport was shut down only last
Monday.
Also last Monday, the BOC began rejecting entries filed by
customs brokers unless they are registered with any of the
three BOC-accredited VASPs — Intercommerce Network Service,
Cargo Data Exchange Corp, and e-Konek.
HEARINGS on proposed amendments to Republic
Act (RA) 9280 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004 commenced
recently. This after detained Senator Antonio Trillanes, chair
of the Senate’s Civil Service Committee (CSC) overseeing
the amendment hearings, ordered his chief of staff to attend
on his behalf.
Other senators such as Richard Gordon also began looking closely
into the issue, vowing its immediate resolution.
While the Armed Forces of the Philippines has yet to act on
the Trillanes camp petition to conduct hearings in his Fort
Bonifacio detention cell, the CSC is already silently conducting
hearings on 20 priority bills — including RA 9280, a
PortCalls source said.
Trillanes is detained on charges of rebellion for his participation
in the Oakwood mutiny.
The PortCalls source said the set-up will continue until the
proposed amendment is approved and forwarded for bicameral
hearings.
Being debated are RA 9280’s Sections 27 and 29 which
prohibit brokerage houses and forwarding firms to customs
clear, and Section 6 involving the scope of the practice of
the profession.
Sen. Gordon is handling the Sec 6 amendment.
MAGSAYSAY-owned National Marine Corp. (NMC)
is introducing a new vessel to service its Manila-Davao-Manila
route to accommodate increasing traffic in the area.
The additional vessel increases NMC’s fleet to six.
NMC president Roberto Umali, in an interview, said the new
vessel will give NMC greater flexibility, increase service
efficiency, double space availability and cut travel time
by half.
“The vessel we currently operate for the Manila-Davao-Manila
route is too small. We are replacing it with a bigger vessel
to accommodate more volume and better efficiency,” Umali
said.
The nine-year old vessel, acquired from a German owner for
$11 million, has a total capacity of 500 TEUs, offer about
60 power outlets for reefer vans, and runs 15 knots.
The old vessel will be deployed to the Manila-Cebu-Cagayan
de Oro-Manila route starting January.
Davao port is expected to post a 5% increase in both containerized
and non-containerized volume starting this year until 2010.
Conventional cargo is seen growing by about 25,000 metric
tons and containerized cargo by 125,000 TEUs annually until
2010.
Since 2000, Davao has been consistently posting cargo throughput
growth of about 8% except in 2001 and 2006 when it registered
a 3% drop.
Multifreight Consolidator System, Inc: More services, higher earnings for 2008
AS it enters its second decade in the logistics
industry, Multifreight Consolidator System, Inc (MFCS) is
dreaming bigger and thinking wider to render a more responsive
service to a greater number of clients worldwide.
The company said it aims to triple earnings next year by developing
additional consolidation services as well as catering to various
domestic and international project shipments and high-speed
customs releasing and clearance.
MFCS also intends to beef up its assets, purchasing additional
trucks to address more pick-up and delivery needs. This, the
company said, will help augment its sales even more.
MFCS is also counting on its loyal clients to help the company
breeze through another 10 years in the highly competitive
logistics industry.
Founded in 1997, MFCS attributes its success to proactive,
aggressive and highly trained personnel; loyal clients; and
a stable of capable domestic and international agents.
MFCS, the country’s first and leading consolidator to
and from the Port Klang, Malaysia, offers a wide range of
shipping services to and from the world’s major port
and commercial centers. Its network of agents extends to most
major trading centers worldwide handling all kinds of cargo,
from one-off less-than container load consignments to multiple
movements, including outsize project cargoes.
It offers international sea and air freight forwarding, import
and export customs processing, buyer’s consolidation,
project shipments, domestic in-land trucking, packing and
crating, cargo pick-up, and door-to-door deliveries.
Services are shaped by the needs of customers, the company
said. MFCS’s involvement can extend from initial service
on routing, modes and costing at the planning stage, to detailed
preparation of documents, packing, loading, and securing before
final shipment.
The company is proud to have perfected a system of delivery.
Shipments are carried on vessels, airlines and trucks that
offer the best service and the most direct route to destination,
resulting in substantial cost savings.
Responsibility begins at the original point of pick-up and
ends with the delivery to the consignee. At every stage during
transit, progress is monitored and reports are available to
clients immediately upon their request.
CCBI: VASP registration should be limited to individual brokers
ONLY individual customs brokers should be
allowed to register with any of the three Bureau of Customs
(BOC)-accredited value-added service providers (VASP), according
to the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc (CCBI).
Roberta Riga, CCBI vice president for external affairs, told
PortCalls no corporations or customs brokerage houses should
be allowed to register and lodge import entries with any of
the VASPs using the electronic signatures of their brokers.
Riga said pinpointing liability for errors is harder if corporations
are registered unlike if the registration is under the name
of the individual broker.
“We want the BOC to limit VASP registration to individual
licensed brokers, regardless of whether the broker is employed
by a corporation as of the moment or not,” she explained.
She added CCBI expects the BOC to further limit the scope
of VASP registration to independent brokers without any affiliation
to brokerage houses or corporations outside of the allowed
broker-client relationship.
CCBI officials will meet with deputy Customs commissioner
Alexander Arevalo for the crafting of a proposed Customs Memorandum
Order on the scope of the VASP accreditation. Arevalo also
chairs the VASP accreditation committee.
Also up for discussion are problems in the lodgment of consumption
and warehouse entries with VASPs.
The BOC has refused to accept entries filed by customs brokers
not registered with any of its three accredited VASPs beginning
Monday.
Since the introduction of the VASPs, transaction time has
been reduced by more than half but expenses (lodgment cost)
have gone up, according to CCBI.
The higher expenses have, however, been offset by the larger
volume of entries filed.
The previous filing procedure through entry encoding centers
(EECs) was costlier because it entailed longer queuing, resulting
in higher manpower expenses.
“Although there are some hitches in the VASP operations,
we see these are forgivable as these are birth pains. In the
long run, this will be more beneficial to brokers and shippers
as cost and transaction time are expected to be cut by more
than half,” Riga said.
The VASPs now handle the lodgement of import entries after
the BOC abolished EECs at the Port of Manila, the Manila International
Container Port and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Other EECs are expected to be phased out before year-end.
