AFTER posting consecutive increases last
year, cargo throughput in January slipped 6.36% to 9.44 million
metric tons (mmt) from 10.08 mmt in the same month last year
(see table)
due to sluggish movement of foreign cargoes in Mindanao ports.
Mindanao shippers’ preference for Mindanao Container
Terminal (MCT) over adjacent Philippine Ports Authority (PPA)-controlled
Cagayan De Oro port also contributed to the decline in cargo
volume.
Foreign volume retreated 13%, with export and import cargoes
posting negative growth of 3.3% and 17.27%, respectively.
Domestic cargoes, however, recovered in the first month of
the year registering a 1.45% growth to 4.71 mmt from 4.64
mmt in January 2007. Growth was concentrated in the ports
of North Harbor, Batangas, Limay, Cagayan de Oro and Pulupandan.
Cagayan de Oro posted a steep decline of 1.234 mmt or 87.94%
from last year as the bulk of import and export cargoes went
to nearby MCT.
MCT was only recently allowed by the courts to handle cargoes
of non-locators. A port operator in Cagayan de Oro earlier
opposed the arrangement, saying MCT was restricted to doing
business with its locators.
The reduction in Mindanao port volume may also be attributed
to less exports of rolled coil by Global Steel Philippines
in Iligan and zero importation of palm oil, liquefied petroleum
gas and anhydrous ammonia by private ports in Dumaguete.
The cut in oil product exports by Petron Refinery in Bataan
also contributed to the fall in cargo volume.
Container traffic, however, continued its rise, growing 7.84%
for the period in review from 250,641 TEUs to 270,284 TEUs
mainly from the active movement in domestic products and increased
export activity.
Total foreign containerized shipments inched up 7.38% from
148,993 TEUs last year to 159,996 TEUs for the period in review.
Import boxed cargoes grew 3.65% while export boxes rose 11.16%
from 74,135 TEUs to 82,405 TEUs.
The PPA said the active flow of foreign-containerized cargo
was mostly felt at the country’s top two ports—the
Manila International Container Terminal and South Harbor.
Domestic containerized cargoes jumped 8.5% from 101,648 TEUs
to 110,288 TEUs.
Passenger traffic increased 1,858 or 9.09%, thanks to more
domestic passengers in Batangas, Calapan, Legazpi, Ormoc,
Tacloban, Tagbilaran, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Surigao, Ozamiz
and Nasipit.
Foreign passenger traffic, however, was less compared to the
same month last year on account of the drop in passenger arrivals
from Malaysia to Zamboanga ports.
Vessel traffic recorded a 9.09% growth compared to last year’s
figure. Domestic and foreign shipcalls both rose 9.03% and
11.08%, respectively.
CITING the lack of waste disposal facilities
in their port of calls, sister firms National Marine Corp
(NMC) and Lorenzo Shipping Corp said they are not interested
in taking up the slack left by Solid Shipping Lines (SSL)
which stops its livestock service by end-April.
“We are not interested in such cargo,” NMC president
Roberto Umali in an interview said. “It is a profitable
business but we are not ready right now,” he added,
noting that livestock cannot be shipped with other commodities.
Umali said NMC vessels may only accommodate processed goods
or those in reefer vans.
“We will just concentrate on carrying goods from our
key markets such as manufactured goods and raw materials,”
he explained.
With both NMC and LSC out of the picture, Mindanao livestock
traders have only three carrier choices — Sulpicio,
Oceanic and Gothong.
The pullback of SSL from the trade is a blow to the Southern
Mindanao livestock industry. SSL, the only shipping line that
offers direct livestock services to Mindanao, handles 70%
of the country’s livestock shipments.
Earlier 2GO, the logistics arm of shipping giant Aboitiz Transport
System, also made known its disinterest in carrying livestock,
citing the same reason given by NMC.
The Philippine Shippers Bureau (PSB) has called on carriers
to accommodate the SSL traffic to avoid disruption in the
supply chain. The agency claimed livestock deliveries, particularly
from General Santos to Manila and vice-versa, face delays
of 15-20% if there are no other carriers that will offer direct
services.
In January, SSL stopped its livestock service to prevent pollution
scrutiny from the Bureau of Quarantine. In February though,
SSL reopened its service to accommodate the request of the
Department of Agriculture to give shippers time to look for
alternatives. The present service ends April 30.
“By May, our livestock operations will cease in all
our port of calls. We urge our shippers to look at other carriers
to accommodate their cargoes,” SSL said. “Instead,
we will only concentrate in carrying cargoes from the dry-goods
sector and agricultural products such as rice and corn,”
it added.
EO 712 implementation will cut trucking
overhead cost by 20%, says CTAP
THE implementation of Executive Order 712
which adopts the uniform ticketing system for traffic violations
and synchronized truck ban, among other measures, will save
the trucking industry more than 20% in overheads and reduce
downtime eventually resulting in faster transit of cargoes,
according to Confederation of Truckers Association of the
Philippines (CTAP) president Col. Rodolfo De Ocampo.
“(The EO should not only be implemented) in the 17 cities
and municipalities of the Metro (but) should also be implemented
in nearby provinces such as the Calabarzon area to spread
the benefits,” De Ocampo told PortCalls.
The CTAP president is, however, worried over the implementation
details, noting that the implementing rules and regulations
(IRR) have yet to be released. The EO is already effective
on March 26, 2008.
As of this writing, it is also not clear which government
agency will craft the IRR, although de Ocampo said this should
be job of the Department of Transportation and Communications.
Earlier, the CTAP president said a uniform truck ban is more
beneficial to truckers than the recent 10% toll fee cut at
the South Luzon Expressway.
He said the unsynchronized ban is the culprit behind high
trucking rates and long transit time for goods; it is also
subject to the whims of the apprehending authority.
Most trucks are generally banned from main Metro Manila thoroughfares
from 7am to 9am and from 3pm to 9pm.
However, this early, six mayors from the cities of Makati,
San Juan, Manila, Navotas, Taguig and Pasay expressed opposition
to the EO. They say the EO runs counter to the local government
code which gives them the power to manage traffic within their
area of jurisdiction.
SEAFREIGHT forwarders are batting for uniform
billing from international carriers to eliminate arbitrary
charges and eventually help reduce logistics costs.
“Rates such as the administrative recovery charge, late
bill of lading fee and telex release fee are only some of
the charges that are not uniformly charged by carriers...
these raise the (possibility of) arbitrary charges (which
in the end) increase rates,” Philippine International
Seafreight Forwarders Association (PISFA) president Dexter
Yu told PortCalls.
If not eliminated or cut immediately, the arbitrary charges
will weigh down on the competitiveness of Philippine products
in the international market, he said.
“We are working for their elimination but a reduction
will definitely be a welcome development amid higher fuel
prices, the strong peso and the slowing US economy,”
Yu added.
Separately, PISFA is negotiating with the Association of International
Shipping Lines for a cut in the container deposit fee.
Harbour Centre-proposed oil island no longer
attractive to Petron
PETRON Corp is no longer looking at relocating
its oil depot in Pandacan to the Manila Harbour Centre’s
planned oil island, saying reclamation in the area would take
years to complete.
“We have stopped negotiations since the transfer will
be made in a few years... We don’t want to talk about
it now because the value of land keeps on rising,” Petron
chair Nicasio Alcantara said.
Based on initial information, the country’s largest
oil refiner said transporting oil in and out of an island
would also be difficult.
The country’s oil majors are looking for new depots
following last year’s Supreme Court (SC) ruling shutting
down the Pandacan facility. The SC upheld the Manila city
government’s legal right to change the classification
of Pandacan from an “industrial” to a “commercial”
district. It also upheld the city’s argument that lives
could be endangered in a terrorist attack on the depots, which
some security experts have said are vulnerable. The oil companies
using the Pandacan depot have only until 2013 to relocate
to an appropriately zoned depot.
Harbour Centre said it was willing to invest on an oil island
only if it gets assurances that the major oil companies will
transfer their operations there. Construction of an oil island
would entail the reclamation of 50 hectares and carry a price
tag of $200 million. The oil companies will construct the
facilities and put up the equipment needed for the depot.
Harbour Centre earlier claimed Petron sent technical experts
from Singapore to look at the feasibility of an oil island.
