THE country posted its second consecutive increase in cargo
throughput this year propelled by a more active foreign trade.
Cargo volume for the first nine months of the year was at
121.098 million metric tons (mmt), 5.74% higher compared to
the 114.529 mmt registered for the same period in 2006 (see
table).
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) attributed the increase
in volume to the 10.35% rise in foreign cargo from 60.825
mmt last year to 67.119 mmt for the period in review.
The greatest increase in foreign volume was recorded at the
Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) (11.18 mmt),
Cagayan de Oro (10.66 mmt), Batangas (9.64 mmt), Surigao (5.78
mmt) and South Harbor (5.0 mmt).
Exports grew 25.94% from 21.754 mmt to 27.398 mmt while imports
posted a 1.66% increase from 39.071 mmt to 39.721 mmt.
Domestic cargo volume also saw a modest increase of 0.51%
for the nine-month period from 53.704 mmt to 53.980 mmt.
Container traffic continued its uptrend, increasing 6.26%
to 2.912 million TEUs from 2.740 million TEUs again due to
the active movement of foreign cargoes.
The overall foreign containerized shipments rose almost 12%
from 1.530 million TEUs last year to 1.709 million TEUs.
Import containerized cargoes grew 11.32%, and export boxes
12.02% from 756,115 TEUs to 846,982 TEUs for the period.
The PPA said the increase was mostly felt at the North Harbor,
South Harbor, the MICT, and the ports of Cagayan de Oro and
Davao.
Domestic containerized cargoes, however, retreated 0.58% from
1.210 million TEUs to 1.202 million TEUs this year due to
the preference of shippers to using the roll on-roll off highway.
Shipcalls inched up 2.31% for the period compared to last
year. Domestic shipcalls increased 2.24% from 220,675 to 225,610,
and foreign shipcalls 4.54% from 7,248 to 7,577.
Passenger traffic also rose 3.40% or 1.08 million due to impressive
growth in Batangas (21.32%), Calapan, Mindoro (17.37%), and
Tagbilaran (8.73%).
For September alone, cargo traffic was down 1.96%, while containerized
cargoes, passengers and shipcalls managed to increase 1.39%,
2.23% and 2.92%, respectively.
The volume of foreign containerized cargoes in Cagayan de
Oro surged 52.26% but the combined foreign cargoes in all
other Northern Mindanao ports for September dropped 24.54%.
VASP registration for corporations
must be allowed
BROKERAGE houses and freight forwarding firms
must be allowed to register with any of the Bureau of Customs
(BOC)-accredited value-added service providers (VASPs), contrary
to an earlier proposal that only licensed individual customs
brokers should be allowed to do so.
Atty. Romeo Sto. Tomas, spokesperson of the Port Users Confederation
(PUC), the umbrella organization of the transport industry,
said the PUC is not opposed per se to the proposal of a customs
brokers’ group to limit VASP registration to licensed
individual customs brokers.
He said this is appropriate but only for transactions that
require the personal knowledge of brokers. Once other aspects
of the BOC automation program such as transshipment and submission
of manifests are introduced, the BOC should allow corporations
to also secure VASP accreditation, Sto Tomas said.
Not all entries processed by VASPs, he added, are normally
handled by individual customs brokers for their importer clients.
“We are amenable if the BOC limits its VASP registration
to licensed brokers if this only involves the lodgment of
consumption and warehouse entries which are being implemented
as of the moment… but once other aspects come in, we
are going to seek full accreditation from the BOC and VASP,”
Sto. Tomas, who is also executive director of the Philippine
International Seafreight Forwarders Association (PISFA) and
legal counsel of the Aircargo Forwarders of the Philippines,
Inc. (AFPI), told PortCalls.
He said Republic Act 9280 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004
also has no relation to the registration of corporations with
any of the VASPs.
Two weeks ago, Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales said
the BOC will soon disallow the registration of corporations
and brokerage houses using their in-house customs brokers
with the VASPs until amendments to RA 9280 are approved.
The decision, he said, is in compliance with provisions of
RA 9280 which allow only individual customs brokers to clear
shipments with the BOC.
The commissioner’s statement follows a Chamber of Customs
Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) request to limit VASP registration to
licensed individual customs brokers not affiliated with any
corporation in the lodgment of consumption and warehouse entries.
CCBI has since clarified it is not asking that the VASP registration
be limited to licensed customs brokers for all aspects of
VASP operations, but only to those that require the individual
knowledge of brokers.
The BOC has stopped accepting entries filed by brokers not
registered with any of its three VASPs at the Port of Manila,
Manila International Container Port, Ninoy Aquino International
Airport, Cebu, Mactan, Davao and Clark.
Soon, the bureau will roll out more transactions that will
be handled by VASPs. These include formal entry, transshipment,
selectivity/hold and alert, electronic payment system and
online release.
A full migration to electronic processes is expected by the
second half of 2008.
EXPRESS firm DHL Express Philippines and
local courier Airfreight 2100 (Air21) are holding their rates
steady despite the recent spike in oil prices.
“We are evaluating the market and consulting our customers
if there is a need to increase rates but at the moment we
are main-taining them,” DHL country manager Lawrence
Llamzon said.
Air21, the Philippine licensee of Federal Express, said it
is also unwilling to hike rates for now since this will affect
its client base.
“Increasing rates is not that easy. There are so many
things that should be considered like your competitors, clients
and economic conditions. At the moment, we are maintaining
existing rates and subject to study (of)… economic conditions
decide… if we will have to increase rates,” said
Air21 chairman Alberto Lina.
Early this year, DHL hiked its ground shipping rates by an
average of 4.9% and air shipments by 3.5%.
Both Air21 and DHL are looking at expanding to increase their
market share.
This year, DHL has already invested P30 million for the development
of its gateways in Subic and Clark and is looking at a 30%
growth in 2007.
Air21, on the other hand, is set to sink in at least P500
million in the next three to five years, much of which will
be for technological upgrade.
For next year, DHL and Air21 are bullish about business despite
the high fuel prices. Their optimism is anchored on the growth
of the semiconductor and electronics industries.
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will
build a ferry terminal in Cavite to connect the province to
Manila next year.
The terminal will be built in San Roque, Cavite for connection
to the terminal being constructed at the back of a mall in
Pasay City. Both terminals are expected to be operational
by mid-2008.
The PPA will spend P11.51 million for the six-month construction,
which involves dredging work and construction of a jetty pier.
The process of eligibility checks and the pre-bid meeting
will be conducted before year-end. The eligible bidders will
submit their bids on January 4, 2008. PPA will then award
the contract a few weeks later.
The PPA project comes after Metrostar Ferry Inc inaugurated
its daily ferry service from Shoemart’s Mall of Asia
in Pasay to Cavite City last July. Metrostar uses a twin-hull,
twin-engine vessel, which can accommodate 130 to 550 passengers
per trip. Fare is between P60 and P75, double that for land
transport.
There are eight trips going to and from the Manila to Cavite
City and vice versa.
Metrostar secured a P135-million loan from Philippine Export
Import Credit Agency and state-owned Philippine Veteran’s
Bank to bankroll the project.
The PPA is also looking at constructing another ferry terminal
at the back of the Luneta Grandstand to further connect Cavite
and probably Bataan to the rest of Manila.
THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has approved
the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of Petrolift next
month to support the company’s tanker refleeting program.
Petrolift expects to generate up to P5.4 billion from selling
as much as 713 million common shares at P4.90 to P7.65 per
share. The company has set aside an additional 97.7 million
secondary shares to cover overallotments.
With the fresh funds, Petrolift plans to upgrade its fleet
to double-hull tankers, acquiring these from Japan, China,
Korea, Norway, and Singapore, among other countries.
Formerly called Petrolift Classed Carriers Inc, the firm is
engaged in bulk logistics for the mining and other allied
marine services. Its principal owners are the Leonio family
who has been engaged in deep sea fishing, shipyard operations,
shipping, ports and the terminal businesses for four generations.
The company expects a rise in demand for oil tankers and logistics
services within a year with the government requirement for
the use of double-hulled fuel oil tankers by April 2008.
Compared with single-hulled tankers, double-hulled vessels
provide an added layer of protection to help maintain cargo
integrity by minimizing the risk of spillage and associated
marine pollution in the event of an accident.
Customs eyes higher import tariff to offset
foreign exchange losses
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is proposing
to increase the tariff on imported products to 5% to help
the bureau plug collection loopholes estimated at around P15
billion as of end October. The measure will also put the agency
on track to meet its 2008 mandated collection target of P254
billion.
The BOC has been hard pressed in meeting its 2007 collection
target amid the strong peso and low cargo volume.
Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales said the bureau loses
P2 billion in revenues for every P1 appreciation of the peso.
“We are trying our very best but things get harder and
harder everyday for us at the bureau as the peso continues
to grow stronger. This aspect is very vital because the first
step in tax collection is converting the invoice value (in
dollar) to peso,” Morales explained.
“Our collection last year from January to October, based
on a P52 to a dollar foreign exchange rate, was P164.695 billion.
This year, based on a rate of exchange of approximately P45
to $1, we managed to collect P171.897 billion, P7.202 billion
above our 2006 output,” he said.
This year’s 10-month collection was, however, P15 billion
short of the bureau’s target.
Despite the deficit, Morales remains optimistic the BOC will
hit its goal due to greater efficiencies in collection as
well as the expected cargo influx in the runup to Christmas.
“The remedial… and alternative measures we have
set in place are working in spite of the odds,” he said.
Aside from the proposed increase in import tariff, the BOC
is also intensifying its post-entry audit program involving
oil, motorized vehicles and vessels in a bid to meet its targets.
AFTER Subic, Korean shipyard operator Hanjin Heavy Industries
Corp. (HHIC) will inject an additional $2 billion in its Philippine
operations to develop a shipyard in Mindanao.
Hanjin recently invested $1.6 billion in a shipyard at the
Subic Bay Freeport which began soft operations early this
year.
The Mindanao plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis
Oriental will be twice bigger than the Subic complex. Construction
of the manufacturing plant will start early 2008. By 2010,
the plant would be fabricating ships, and by 2012 exporting
some $1.7 billion worth of shipbuilding parts and vessels.
