THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will not entertain any
petitions for cargo-handling rate increases, and has in fact
further tightened requirements for such petitions to prevent
unjustified increases in shipping cost.
Since the spike in oil prices and the continuing strength
of the peso, the PPA has received several petitions for rate
increases from different service providers, including the
country’s top two port operators —International
Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) and Asian Terminals,
Inc. (ATI).
The petitions are for increases that go as high as 30%.
“We don’t really want to entertain any increase
in cargo-handling rates at the moment as the current economic
conditions do not allow it, the very reason we tightened our
guidelines for increases,” PPA general manager Atty.
Oscar Sevilla said.
“As soon as the economic climate eases, we’ll
see if we’ll allow an upward movement in rates,”
Sevilla said.
“In the meantime, we will maintain current levels,”
he added.
Under the new guidelines, the application or request for rate
increase should be presented in matrix form and show separately
the existing tariff, the adjusted tariff applied for and the
legal or other justification for such application.
Individual service providers are also required to submit financial
statements to include the balance sheet, income statement
using appropriate chart of account in accordance with the
Philippine financial reporting system; detailed computation
of proposed rates; and copies of source documents like government-mandated
wage adjustment, increase in power and fuel cost, and exchange
rate of the Philippine peso to the US dollar.
For across-the-board increases, the PPA is requiring a detailed
computation of the proposed rates as well as copies of source
documents such as the consumer price index, wage adjustment
orders, increases in power and fuel and the forex rates.
The source documents should include figures for the year the
last increase was granted up to the present year where adjustment
of rate is required.
The PPA Board has the final word on whether to grant the petition
for increase or not. It may, however, give provisional approval
to an increase pending completion of the review and Board
approval.
Once approved, the increase should be published in a newspaper
of general circulation 30 days prior to its implementation.
Both ICTSI and ATI became eligible to seek a rate increase
after full implementation of their 20-22% hike spread over
the last two years.
The Philippine Chamber of Arrastre and Stevedoring Operators
(PCASO) has been petitioning for an additional rate increase
since last year.
PCASO was allowed a 15% hike in late 2005, half its original
petition of 30%.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is expected to
accredit its fourth value-added service provider (VASP) by
yearend.
The BOC is now in the final stages of evaluating the application
of Crimson Logic Philippines after delays brought about by
the expansion of its mother firm in Singapore.
BOC VASP accreditation committee chair deputy commissioner
Alexander Arevalo said the committee is set to forward the
papers of Crimson Logic to Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales
for approval in the next few days.
“BOC expects that by next month, with Crimson Logic
onboard, the technical level for the implementation of the
(advance) IFM (inward foreign manifest) will be completed
in time for the full implementation toward the first quarter
of next year,” Arevalo added.
The three VASPs — InterCommerce Network Service (INS),
E-Konek and Cargo Data Exchange Center — already handle
consumption and warehousing entries at the Port of Manila,
the Manila International Container Port and the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport. They are set to expand their operations
to Cebu, Mactan, Davao and Clark by month’s end after
the BOC ordered the total phaseout of entry encoding centers
at the said ports two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the BOC is set to review the performance of its
first accredited VASP, INS, by year-end with the lapse of
the company’s six-month provisional accre-ditation.
If it secures BOC approval, INS will be granted the full three-year
accreditation.
FEDEX will continue to expand its operations
in the Philippines despite the impending transfer of its Asia-Pacific
hub from Subic to China at the end of 2008.
“There is nothing to worry about. FedEx is maintaining
and expanding its operations in the country. It’s only
the hub that is transferring to China. Philippine operations
will continue to expand, both for FedEx and Air21,”
said Alberto Lina, chair of FedEx’s Philippine licensee
Airfreight 2100.
“Based on their commitment to Air21, they will not only
maintain backroom operations as earlier reported but will
continue to look for other areas of expansion,” he said.
FedEx has maintained its Asia-Pacific hub at Subic Bay since
1995. The facility is the largest air express hub in the region
connecting 19 key Asian cities. It enables overnight delivery
to the US West Coast from Penang, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,
Manila and East Timor. However, due to the limited capacity
of Subic to handle projected growth, FedEx decided to transfer
its Asia-Pacific hub to Guangzhou, China also to get a larger
chunk of the booming Chinese market.
Earlier, the Philippine government formed a team to convince
FedEx to stay in the country including a proposal for a “double
hub” — one in China for the Northern Asia market
and Subic for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand markets.
The government has also offered Clark as an alternative.
Subic stands to lose about P250 million in revenues annually
representing the landing fees of FedEx on top of regular lease
and rentals of airport facilities in Subic with the impending
pullout.
Meanwhile, the Memphis-based company is banking on its security
equipment as an initial step in complying with the new US
requirement on 100% cargo scanning.
Jojo Lavina, FedEx corporate security head, said scanning
is a standard requirement for all shipments handled by the
company.
“Our security is more than enough and we don’t
have to acquire or upgrade our facilities,” Lavina said,
adding the company does not see any increase in cost or even
difficulty in complying with the new security measure.
E-Konek Pilipinas, one of the value-added
service providers (VASP) of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), is
spending P35 million in the next few weeks in order to offer
more services as VASP.
The amount is on top of the initial P40-million investment
to set up facilities for the preliminary rollout of its services
as VASP.
“E-Konek will… take advantage of the Mail and
More outlets nationwide where brokers can lodge their entries
electronically with trained staff on… customs declaration
supported by a professional help desk,” E-Konek Pilipinas
chair Alberto Lina said at the recent formal launch of its
VASP service.
Mail and More is a sister company of E-Konek and Federal Express
Philippine licensee Airfreight 2100. There are more than 200
Mail and More outlets, which E-Konek will provide with workstations
that has its VASP application.
The company will also establish business centers near ports
to further woo brokers, associations and companies to tie
up with the company.
E-Konek is charging a VASP lodgment fee of P40 per successfully
lodged Customs entry, equal to the Customs Entry Encoding
fee brokers pay to the abolished entry encoding centers. It
also does not require brokers to deposit in advance payment
for its VASP lodgment fee; instead it bills client-brokers
monthly for VASP lodgment fee based on the number of successfully
lodged entries recorded in the BOC database.
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) may
turn over the Caticlan port to the local government unit,
after authorities recognized the facility’s revenue
possibilities.
Caticlan has seen a surge in cargo and passenger traffic because
of Boracay, the country’s top tourist destination, but
also because of the South utilizing the Strong Republic Nautical
Highway (SRNH).
Of the 575% growth in cargo and passenger traffic posted for
the entire SRNH network during its first year of operations,
Caticlan contributed 375%, the highest among all the ports
in the network.
The PPA has said it was putting on the auction block all ports
under the SRNH, including Caticlan, to make them more efficient.
“We need to privatize so (the roll on-roll off [ro-ro]
terminals) would be more effective,” PPA general manager
Oscar Sevilla said.
Classified as a municipal port but placed under the PPA priority
development program, the port of Caticlan cost PPA P78.03
million to construct. The project, which included the construction
of a pier, one ramp for ro-ro vessels, reclamation and breasting
dolphin, was fully completed early last year.
