THE country’s cargo throughput increased
6.4% last year to 163.75 million metric tons (mmt) from the
153.90 mmt posted a year earlier (see
table). The figure is also 1.4-percentage point higher
than the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) forecast of 5% from
2007-2010.
The PPA attributed the increase to the positive performance
of the country’s foreign trade, which rose 11.91% from
81.26 mmt in 2006 to 90.94 mmt in 2007. Export cargo grew
27.37% from 28.93 mmt to 36.85 mmt while import cargo increased
1.76% from 52.33 mmt in 2006 to 54.09 mmt.
The biggest foreign volumes were recorded at the Manila International
Container Terminal or MICT (15.60 mmt), followed by Cagayan
de Oro (14.20 mmt), Batangas (12.89 mmt), Limay (11.54 mmt)
and South Harbor (6.44 mmt).
Domestic cargo volume rose 0.23% for 2007 to 72.81 mmt from
72.64 mmt.
Container traffic continued its uptrend, rising 6.65% in 2007
compared to the same period in 2006 or from 3.787 million
TEUs to 4.039 million TEUs, again due to the active movement
of foreign cargoes.
Total foreign containerized shipments jumped 13.42% from 2.116
million TEUs in 2006 to 2.400 million TEUs.
Import boxed cargoes increased 14.16% increase from 1.069
million TEUs to 1.220 million TEUs and export boxes, 12.67%
from 1.047 million TEUs to 1.179 million TEUs.
The PPA said foreign-boxed cargo activity was mostly felt
in North Harbor, South Harbor, MICT, Cagayan de Oro, Davao
and General Santos.
Domestic boxed cargoes, however, retreated 1.94% from 1.671-million
TEUs to 1.638-million TEUs due to shipper preference for using
the roll on-roll off highway.
Passenger traffic grew 4.54% or 1.933 million from 42.556
million in 2006 to 44.490 million last year as Nautical Highway
component ports maintained double-digit growth rates.
Local passenger volume rose 4.53% while foreign volume soared
almost 29%.
Vessel traffic also went up 2.43% from 2006. The PPA said
more trips for Visayas ports such as Iloilo, Ormoc and Tacloban
largely contributed to the 2.3% hike in domestic shipcalls.
The ports of Cagayan de Oro, South Harbor and MICT received
the greatest number of foreign vessels, up 6.5% last year.
FREIGHT forwarders are considering offering
subsidies to shippers when higher cargo-handling rates kick
in at the start of next month.
“We are seriously looking at subsidizing shippers up
to 50% of the cargo-handling rate increase,” Philippine
International Seafreight Forwarders Association (PISFA) president
Dexter Yu told PortCalls.
“As long as we can shoulder a portion of the increase,
we will bear it to help each other since a drop in cargo volume
from shippers could mean an even larger loss on our part than
shouldering a fraction of the impending increase,” he
explained.
“The percentage will depend on the capability of the
freight forwarding company in order not to affect the company’s
revenue-generating capacity,” he said.
A PISFA meeting will soon be called to discuss the proposal
in time for the implementation of the cargo-handling rate
hike on April 2.
Last week, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) approved a
12% hike in foreign container-handling rates at the South
Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal (MICT)
spread out over two years.
The 5% increase takes effect April 2, 2008. The balance or
7% will be implemented at the start of 2009, but this will
only take effect following a review by PPA management.
The foreign exchange rate to be used in computing the vessel
tariff will be P43 per US dollar to minimize the adverse impact
on vessel revenue of operators due to the rapid appreciation
of the Philippine peso.
Asian Terminals, Inc and International Container Terminal
Services, Inc, operator of South Harbor and MICT, respectively,
became qualified to increase their cargo-handling rates after
the completion of the two-tranche rate hike in 2005.
Customs’ e-payment system rolling along
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has accredited seven banks to
handle electronic payment (e-payment) or cashless transactions
between the agency and its clients.
Customs deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo told PortCalls
the banks form the first batch among 36 being evaluated by
the BOC for its e-payment system. Arevalo declined to name
the financial institutions, but said all are members of the
Bankers Association of the Philippines.
Earlier reports though said BOC is in talks with multinational
banks Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank; local commercial
banks Metrobank, RCBC, and Security Bank; and government banks
LandBank and Philippine National Bank.
“Hopefully we can implement the system in the next two
months, where shippers can pay in checks or by auto-debit,”
Arevalo explained.
“Any stakeholder that will fail to secure any agreement
with banks, their shipments will be delayed… (there
will also be) no release of electronic permits until stakeholders
have locked an agreement with banks for the e-payment,”
he added.
Based on the e-payment system, enrolled banks will have 20
minutes to inform the BOC of payments made by shippers while
the BOC will have 10 minutes to produce the electronic release
for the shipment.
According to BOC, the 30-minute clearing time is the ideal
that will be subscribed to by members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.
INS, Citibank deal
Arevalo said the e-payment system is separate from the cashless
transaction agreement being forged with the bureau’s
three accredited value-added service providers (VASP).
VASP Intercommerce Network Services (INS) recently inked an
agreement with Citibank for the use of PAS 5 (Payment Advice)
in paying duties and taxes to the BOC using CitiConnect Features.
Under CitiConnect, brokers may lodge import entries via INS.
The BOC then generates a duty and tax assessment. The importers
input and approve duties and tax payment instructions, and
Citibank debits the importer account and credits BOC via PAS5.
Citibank will charge importers P300 per entry.
Agriculture sector, new port operator to power MCT growth
THE Phividec Industrial Authority (PIA) is banking
on Mindanao’s agricultural sector and a new port operator
to help Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) achieve a double-digit
increase in shipments this year.
“We are thinking growth again this year. MCT is forecasting
a 10% increase in shipments passing through the port this
year,” Dante Clarito, port management department manager
of MICT operator PIA, told PortCalls.
“We are also expecting other companies to jump over
to MCT from other ports this year, further jacking up volume
that has been steadily rising in the past couple of years,”
he added.
In its first year of full commercial operations last year,
MCT posted a 100% jump in cargo volume to more than 80,000
TEUs from 38,000-40,000 TEUs in 2006.
MCT was not allowed to accept local and international cargoes
in the last five years other than those for its locators.
This, after Oro Port, the cargo-handling operator of nearby
government port Cagayan de Oro, secured a favorable court
ruling on the exclusivity of its contract to handle cargoes
in and out of Cagayan de Oro, including areas in and around
MCT.
In late 2006, the court lifted its temporary restraining order,
paving the way for the commercial operations of MCT.
Located along the Macalajar Bay in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental,
MCT is seen as a catalyst to economic and industrial development
of Metro Cagayan De Oro and Northern Mindanao.
Phase I of MCT, with an annual capacity of 270,000 TEUs, is
designed to be operated exclusively for full-container and
semi-container vessels. It is equipped with two quayside gantry
cranes with a productivity of 30 moves per hour, and four
rubber-tired gantries. It features a six-hectare container
yard with a maximum stacking capacity of 8,000 TEUs at any
one time, and a reefer storage area with a total 262 receptacles.
The terminal is capable of accepting vessels up to 30,000
dead weight tons.
Tanker operators seek exemption from double-hull requirement
THE Philippine Petroleum Sea Transport Association
(Philpesta) is asking the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina)
to exempt tanker/barges carrying persistent oil plying the
coastwise trade from the double-hull tanker requirement that
will take effect April 30.
Philpesta said the impending transfer of the Pandacan oil
depot, the key market for barges, will render refleeting immaterial
as there is no guarantee for a return of investments beyond
2013.
“This is a problem area for us, the coastwise trade.
Since the depot is only given until 2013 to relocate, it is
just proper to freeze compliance (with) the new (double-hull)
requirement so as not to jeopardize investments,” an
official of Philpesta told PortCalls.
“Since the investment needed to comply with the regulation
is about P120-P150 million, it will take barge operators 10
years to recover… there is no way they could (do this)
in three to five years,” the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, added.
“We were not against the new requirement when Marina
issued it last year, but when the Supreme Court upheld its
earlier decision on the transfer (of the Pandacan oil depot),
we started to have reservations as there is no business guarantee,”
the source said.
There are at least 20 tanker-barges carrying black oil plying
the coastwise trade; majority have yet to initiate compliance
with the requirement.
The three oil majors using the Pandacan depot have said they
cannot assure continued business after their relocation.
The Pandacan depot supplies around half of the country’s
total fuel demand and 100% of lubricant requirements, not
only of the transport sector, but also of the industrial sector.
Industry data shows that more than 1,800 retail stations in
Regions 1-4 (around 500 of which are in Metro Manila), procure
their fuel supply from the Pandacan terminal.
The depot serves 70% of the shipping industry’s fuel
needs and 75% of aviation fuel requirements.
INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc.
(ICTSI) recently announced the appointments of Antonio Andrade
as Chief Finance Officer for Madagascar International Container
Terminal Services Ltd. (MICTSL), Rafael Nieto as Terminal
Manager for Batumi International Container Terminal LLC (BICTL),
and Jay Valdez as Operations Manager for its flagship, Manila
International Container Terminal (MICT).
BICTL is ICTSI’s newly established subsidiary that operates
the Batumi International Container Terminal in Batumi, Georgia
while MICTSL operates Madagascar International Container Terminal
in Toamasina.
Andrade, 50, was the Finance Manager of RSH Marketing Philippines
since 1999. Before that, he was Financial Controller of Allied
Botanical Corp from 1994-1999, and was Regional Controller
of Industrial Materials and Services Co in Saudi Arabia from
1987-1993. He was Senior Auditor of Carlos J. Valdes &
Co., CPAs from 1981-1987. He completed his bachelor’s
degree in Business Administration majoring in Agribusiness
(cum laude) in 1980, and Accounting in 1981 from Aquinas University
in Legaspi City. Andrade is a certi-fied public accountant.
Prior to his promotion, Nieto was Operations Manager at the
MICT. He joined the company in 1991 as Operations Superintendent.
Nieto, 54, holds a degree in Business Management from the
University of Manila.
Valdez is fresh from his stint in Madagascar where he had
been Operations Manager for MICTSL since 2006. He joined the
Company in 1994 as Checker, was promoted to Traffic Supervisor
in 1997, and to Operations Superintendent in 2001. Valdez
holds a degree in Mathematics from the Polytechnic University
of the Philippines.
Antonio Andrade, CFO for Madagascar International Container Terminal Services Ltd (Left) Rafael Nieto, Terminal Manager for Batumi International Container Terminal(Right)
Jay Valdez, Operations Manager for Manila International Container Terminal
