SHIPPERS doing business with members of
the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines
(CTAP) will have to brace for higher trucking rates. The association
has announced it will up rates to cushion the impact of higher
prices of fuel and spare parts on its members’ businesses.
Recently, the Allied Transport Group, Integrated North Harbor
Truckers Association and WGA Truckers Association —
collectively known as North Harbor Trucking Association —
said they will charge its clients 16% more effective Valentine’s
Day.
CTAP president Col Rodolfo De Ocampo told PortCalls its members
have been trying to hold their rates for almost two years
now but that this has taken its toll on overheads.
Usually accounting for 25% of total expenditures, fuel expenses
have increased almost 10% during the period.
“Our fuel expense could have been higher (but this was
mitigated by) the higher cargo volume that translated to better
trucking business last year,” De Ocampo added.
The CTAP Board will meet before month’s end to finalize
the percentage increase and the implementing guidelines for
such.
The price of diesel, the most commonly used fuel by trucks,
grew almost 15% in the last few months from P32 per liter.
The price is expected to go up some more as prices of oil
in the world market remain volatile due to conflicts in the
Middle East.
Last year, truckers finally posted a growth of 10%, the first
positive number recorded in almost three years.
According to CTAP, business growth could have been higher
if not for the continuing volatility of fuel prices.
The trucking business declined an estimated 20% since 2004
owing to the slow performance of the import and export sector
coupled with the implementation of policies such as the No
Overloading Law and toll fee increases.
Trucking operators are continuing to clamor for the lifting
of the law. They are also asking govern-ment to implement
measures to lower fuel prices.
INTERCOMMERCE Network Services (INS), one
of the value-added service providers accredited by the Bureau
of Customs (BOC), will commence its e-payment system next
month.
INS president Francis Lopez told PortCalls the company is
now testing the system with one bank and negotiating with
eight others. INS declined to identify the banks although
two are believed to be Land Bank of the Philippines and Development
Bank of the Philippines.
“Hopefully we will have all nine banks before we begin
our tests with the BOC for their own electronic payment system,”
Lopez added.
The BOC will start next month its own e-payment system involving
36 banks to facilitate shipment release and promote cashless
transaction. The system is up for testing in the next few
days.
According to the BOC e-payment guidelines, any stakeholder
that fails to secure an agreement with any bank faces shipment
delays as well as the non-release of electronic permits.
The guidelines also require accredited banks to inform the
BOC of the payment made by the shipper within 20 minutes,
and the BOC to release papers for the shipment or the permits
electronically within 10 minutes.
“We are also talking with the BOC to help us get the
nod of their accredited banks to accept online payment for
our services and that of the agency,” Lopez explained.
Lopez said the INS e-payment system complements the online
lodgment of import entries already being offered by VASPs.
E-payment becomes more important now that the coverage of
the online import entry lodgment by VASPs has been expanded
to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the ports of Cebu,
Davao, and Clark, he added.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is insisting
it should be given revised revenue targets for 2008 with the
continued appreciation of the Philippine peso.
Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales said the bureau is asking
the Department of Finance (DOF) to be more reasonable in setting
targets as the peso is expected to be much stronger this year.
Market forecasts place the local currency at 40 to a dollar
in 2008.
Morales said that for every P1 appreciation against the US
dollar, the bureau loses P3 billion in revenues.
“We want the target to be the same as last year,”
he explained.
Key considerations
The DOF said the strengthening of the peso would be taken
into account in deciding whether the target should be revised.
It said the impact of unrealized economic assumptions on revenues
should be offset by improving efficiency of collection and
efforts to stamp out corruption both at the BOC and the Bureau
of Internal Revenue, the two main revenue generating agencies
of the government.
Last year, the BOC missed its target collection by more than
6%, bringing in only P213.58 billion for 2007 compared to
the P228.2-billion target.
Documents showed that 11 of the 15 collection districts missed
their targets. Four of the 15 are major ports – the
Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port, Batangas
and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The Port of Manila collected P68.76 billion in import duties
and taxes, 7.9% short of its goal of P74.68 billion.
The Manila International Container Port turned in P53.5 billion,
lower by 6.3% than its P57.12-billion target.
The Port of Batangas contributed P43.12 billion, also 13.6%
short of its target of P49.89 billion. NAIA generated P16.45
billion, 3.5% off its target of P17.05 billion.
Other ports short of their targets were Iloilo, Cebu, Tacloban,
Surigao, Zamboanga, Subic and Clark.
Only four ports hit their targets — Legaspi, Cagayan
de Oro, Davao and San Fernando.
CUSTOMS brokers opposed to amending Republic Act 9280 or
the Customs Brokers Act of 2004 are pleased at the turtle-pace
development of such moves in Congress.
Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) president Rolando
Quiambao told PortCalls further delays are expected with the
next presidential elections just two years down the road.
Hearings on the amendments, he added, are almost at a standstill
at both Houses of Congress as lawmakers start focusing on
the 2010 polls.
“This (delay) is favorable to us. Even with the strong
lobby from corporations and brokerage houses, their proposed
amendment will really have to take a back seat,” Quiambao
said.
“This will also boost our chances of wooing the Bureau
of Customs (BOC) to implement provisions of RA 9280 immediately,”
he said, adding the delay gives CCBI more time to counter
moves by brokerage houses in their bid to allow corporations
to customs clear at the BOC.
“We are pushing equal footing with corporations and
brokerage houses at the BOC particularly in the prosecution
of violations of customs laws… the current set-up is
really to the disadvantage of brokers,” Quiambao said.
Since July, Lower House hearings on three bills seeking to
amend RA 9280 have not moved. The bills seek to allow corporations
to sign customs entries as long as they hire the services
of at least one licensed and BOC-accredited customs broker,
an amendment opposed by brokers.
At the Upper House, hearings have also been delayed with the
continuous detention of Sen. Antonio Trillanes, who chairs
the Civil Service Committee looking into the RA 9280 amendment.
Trillanes is facing rebellion charges.
Senators of the other committees hearing the amendment have
also deferred their decision to preside over the hearings.
Indian firm signs up for shipyard-for-rent
program
SUBIC Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) recently inked a
25-year contract with Indian company ABG Shipyard Ltd for
the latter to operate a shipyard under the SBMA’s shipyard-for-rent
program.
The program allows big shipyard operators to lease facilities
from the SBMA at preferential rates and, in turn, offer them
for use to small- and medium-scale domestic shipyard operators.
The scheme was hatched to free domestic shipyard operators
from having to make investments in shipyard facilities.
“With the yard already operational, small- and medium-scale
shipyards may now market for larger and bigger vessels without
shelling out huge investments to increase their yard capacity,”
SBMA seaport manager Capt. Perfecto Pascual said.
“This will really boost shipbuilding activities in the
country as small- and medium-scale shipyards can now compete
with the bigger ones,” he added.
ABG Shipyard Ltd joins US Dock Corp as the second shipyard
operator under the program.
SBMA is developing a 50-hectare property for the shipbuilding
facility, offering affordable rent to help lower local shipbuilders’
cost.
Under the program, SBMA will also rent out equipment, including
the Synchrolift system, a large shiplifting equipment which
allows the raising and lowering of vessels in and out of the
water for drydocking ashore.
THE Air Transportation Office (ATO) is confident the country
will regain its US Federal Aviation Authority (US FAA) Category
1 status in three months.
“We can address the issues in three months and hopefully
the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) bill
will also be passed. We’ll provide the funds and we’re
now discussing the funding requirement,” Transport Secretary
and concurrent ATO chief Leandro Mendoza, in a press briefing
last Monday said.
Recently, the US FAA downgraded the country’s airports
from Category 1 to Category 2, raising safety concerns.
In 1995, the industry suffered the same fate but regained
Category 1 status in 1997 after ATO assured the FAA of the
passage of the aviation law, which up to now has not been
approved.
Category 2 means a country’s civil aviation authorities
(CAA) do not provide safety oversight of its air carriers
in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards
of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). All local
airlines will be affected by the Category 2 rating.
Category 1 rating is given if the country’s CAA has
been found to license and oversee air carriers in accordance
with ICAO aviation safety standards.
ATO is presently crafting the CAAP implementing rules and
regulations.
Mendoza said the government will immediately seek a re-assessment
from the US FAA after compliance with safety requirements.
ATO operates 82 airports. It recently opened Davao, Iloilo
and Bacolod airports.
It needs additional check pilots and air traffic controllers
to comply with the continued surveillance obligation requirement
of the US FAA. ATO has 3,500 personnel, although its actual
requirement is for 7,000. It also needs 32 more check pilots
to augment its present 12 pilots; 300 more air traffic controllers
for a total of 1,000; and 27 additional inspectors from the
present 25.
Mendoza said it takes $20,000 to train a pilot, with an hour
of training worth $500. The pilots also have to undergo simulator
training being offered in Hong Kong, Singapore and the US.
“We continuously recruit aviation safety officers, but
we eventually lose them because of the low pay,” Mendoza
said.
With the enactment of the CAAP bill into law, Mendoza said
the ATO could seek exemption from the government salary standardization
program.
“By this we can provide competitive pay for civil aviation
technical inspectors and personnel,” he said.
Senator Richard Gordon said the downgrade, if not addressed,
would reverse gains of the tourism industry, which infused
$ 4.8 billion into the economy in 2007, up 8.7% from the previous
year.
Tourist arrivals have also breached the three-million mark.
Gordon said a resolution was filed directing the Senate Committee
on Tourism to identify the consequences of the downgrade on
the tourism industry and to install measures to prevent a
decline in tourist arrivals.
