EAGLE Express Lines, Inc has the right to
exclusively use the word “Eagle” in its corporate
name in the Philippines. This after the Court of Appeals recently
denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Circle Freight
International Phils, Inc to reverse an earlier court decision
granting Eagle Express such right.
It may be recalled that Eagle Express in 2003 filed a motion
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to preserve
its corporate name, which the SEC en banc denied in 2004.
The case springs from the use of the word “Eagle”
in the amended corporate name of EGL Eagle Global Logistics,
Phils Inc, formerly Circle Freight International Phils.
Eagle Express contends that this is confusing and misleading
to clients.
The case was then brought to the Court of Appeals, which reversed
the SEC decision.
In its most recent decision this year, the Court of Appeals
ruled: “We re-emphasize our well-considered view that
as an active player in the cargo forwarding industry, petitioner
Eagle Express has been widely known and popularly identified
simply as ‘Eagle’ in prominent local freight handling
associations. Accordingly, the adoption by Circle Freight
Phils of the word ‘Eagle’ in its new and amended
corporate name would certainly cause confusion, if not deception,
in the perception of the cargo handling and transportation
clientele considering that Eagle Express and Circle Freight
Philippines are both operating in and directly competing under
the same line of business.
“By reason of prior registration and prolonged use,
petitioner’s adoption of the word ‘Eagle’
in its corporate appelation already constituted a property
right in its favor — one that cannot be impaired or
defeated by subsequent appropriation by another corporation
operating in the same commercial field.”
Angelito Colona, president of Eagle Express Lines, welcomed
the favorable decision, saying it “removes a significant
hurdle against the exclusive use of the word ‘Eagle’
by a first registrant 100% Filipino company and a pioneer
in the industry, for which premium must be legally and equitably
give.”
RP shippers to gain with InterCommerce
PAA membership
INTERCOMMERCE Network Service (INS) has gained
associate membership to the Pan Asean e-commerce Alliance
(PAA) enabling Philippine shippers to exchange data with its
trading partners in 10 key countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The PAA aims to be the leading body of collaborative organizations
promoting and providing secure, trusted, reliable and value-adding
information technology infrastructure and facilities for efficient
global trade and logistics.
PAA member economies comprise Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong
SAR, Macau SAR, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore
and Australia which account for high growth areas for Philippine
imports and exports.
INS president Francis Lopez told PortCalls his company’s
membership to PAA will provide importers and exporters the
opportunity to conduct secure, electronic, paperless cross
border trade with the Philippines’ major markets in
the region.
The membership will also allow INS to offer more value-added
services to its forwarder clients.
“InterCommerce will be able to provide its customers
with commercial information covering (PAA) markets in an electronic
data format which may be integrated to their business applications.
This will facilitate trade, exchange of B2B transaction data,
reduce delays in Customs clearance and improve the accuracy
of data thereby further streamlining the import/export process,”
Lopez said.
Specifically, the advanced receipt of the airway bill (AWB)
and consolidated manifest data may be converted into the Asycuda
format and transmitted to the Bureau of Customs (BOC); the
data may then be downloaded for integration to back-office
freight management and Customs brokerage software application.
Forwarder application
As an initial project, INS proposes to enable a forwarder
to transmit its AWB in electronic data format to its principal
in Korea, thru KTNet. The advanced submission of AWB data
enables the logistics provider in Korea to clear imports faster
from the Philippines, enhancing delivery throughput cycle
times.
Lopez said that with the Revised Kyoto Convention, the ASEAN
Single Window, Philippine bilateral agreements with China,
Japan and Korea and the harmonization of trade documentation
and processes at the Clark-Subic-Kaoshiung Economic Corridor,
it is becoming more critical for a value-added service provider
(VASP) to have the IT infrastructure and collaborative arrangements
to handle not only local electronic trade transactions, but
more importantly for global B2B transactions of its customers
and trading partners.
INS is one of the accredited VASPs of the BOC, the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority and Clark Freeport.
COSCO began offering an express container
service from Quanzhou, Fujian province to Manila via Hong
Kong starting March 19, Xinhua reported.
The Quanzhou-Manila service provides the best transit time
from Fujian to Southeast Asia, as it does no pass through
Xiamen of Fuzhou. Other Southeast Asia services that start
from Fuzhou and Xiamen also call Hong Kong, Shantou or Guangzhou.
The Port of Quanzhou has been lacking in foreign trade services.
Shipments from the area to Southeast Asia have to be transitted
via the nearby Xiamen port.
Vessels deployed on the Quanzhou-Manila service will depart
Quanzhou on Wednesdays and reach Manila three days later,
the report said.
Weeks into full operation, Subic Dock embarks
on more expansion
FOLLOWING commencement of full commercial
operations two weeks ago, Subic Dock Corp is injecting US$500,000
to take over an adjacent pier and lease spaces within the
area.
Subic Dock general manager Gerald James Hammond told PortCalls
the additional investment would increase vessel capacity by
44% from 25 vessels to 36.
“We are not competing with other shipyards to get a
share of the ship repair market. We are making our own market
by marketing our facilities to Japan, Korea and Singapore
as well as to other local and foreign vessel operators within
our existing capacity,” Hammond said.
“With Subic Dock located in a freeport zone, we will
be able to offer relatively lower rates compared with other
ship repair facility operators in the Philippines,”
Hammond added.
Other more established shipyards in the country are Tsuneishi
in Cebu and Keppel in Batangas.
“But with our expansion program taking a couple of months
to realize, we will concentrate on our market with the US
naval fleet, local salvage operators such as Salvtug, and
local tankers trying to meet the double-hull requirement by
the end of next month,” he explained.
Hammond said Subic Dock also expects additional clients from
spillovers in the international vessel market as shipyards
in major shipbuilding countries such as Korea are fully booked
until 2012.
Subic Dock is now repairing a Hanjin ship with three other
vessels in the pipeline. It is also set to repair 10 US Naval
fleet vessels in the next two months, further stressing the
need for additional capacity.
The company has two floating dry docks, AFDM-5 with an 18,000-ton
lift capacity and AFDL-21 with 1,000 tons. Both were inspected
by Registro Italiano Novale (RINA) Society of Italy, and are
covered under a 2001 Certification of Compliance, meeting
RINA rules on construction and classification of floating
docks.
Aside from the docks, the facility also boasts crane capability
of up to 100 tons, including a 100-ton floating derrick crane.
According to Hammond, the acquisition of larger floating dry
docks this year is possible if demand warrants it.
PORT operator International Container Terminal
Services, Inc. (ICTSI) reported a slowdown in operations at
its Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) in Gdynia, Poland due
to a salary dispute between the company and its employees’
union.
In a statement, ICTSI finance manager Arthur Tabuena said
BCT workers went on strike last week after failing to reach
an agreement regarding their 2008 salary negotiations.
Last year, an almost record-breaking 500,000 TEUs were handled
at BCT. This places the container terminal in the top three
in the Baltic region.
Traffic in 2007 was up 23% over 2006. Container traffic rose
from 401,466 TEUs in 2006 to 493,860 TEUs in 2007.
BCT saw a 36% increase in car traffic from 54,800 units in
2006 to over 75,000 units in 2007. Breakbulk cargo also rose
20%.
Import cargo accounted for the lion’s share of the cargo
or 53% of the total.
Several factors contributed to the positive performance, including
strong economic growth resulting in strong demand for imports,
notably cargo sourced by BCT clients from China.
Sustained investment by BCT in new capacity and systems also
played its part in facilitating strong traffic growth.
Particularly notable during 2007 was the implementation of
a new Terminal Operating System offering diverse internet-based
interactive features to BCT clients.
Two further rubber-tired gantries were also purchased and
130 new personnel employed.
INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services,
Inc. (ICTSI) recently announced the appointments of Maria
Rowena Gulinao as Business Analysis and Valuation Services
Manager; Anthony Jake Duran as Information Systems Auditor
and Arsenia Magtalas as Business Support Services Assistant
Manager.
Gulinao joins ICTSI from Manabat Delgado Amper and Co. (Deloitte
Philippines) where she was Assistant Manager for Financial
Advisory Services from 2006. Gulinao was formerly accountant
for RCBC Capital Corp from 2002-2006, Finance Manager for
First Financial Technologies, Inc. from 2001-2002, and Associate
Auditor for Alba Romeo & Co. from 2000-2001.
Gulinao graduated with a degree in Accountancy from the Polytechnic
University of the Philippines and completed her Masters in
Business Administration (with distinction) from the De La
Salle Professional Schools, Inc. - Graduate School of Business.
She is a certified public accountant (CPA) as well as a Certified
Financial Consultant. She is also a member of the Philippine
Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and the
Institute of Certified Financial Consultants Canada.
Duran joins ICTSI from SGV & Co. where he was the Senior
Auditor for Tech-nology and Secu-rity Risks Services.
Duran graduated with a degree in Business Administration and
Accountancy from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
He is a CPA and a Certified Information Systems Auditor exam
passer. He is a member of the PICPA and Information Systems
Audit and Control Association.
Magtalas started with ICTSI in 1991 as Personnel Assistant
and was named Senior HR Assistant the following year. She
was appointed Supervisor Executive Secretary in 1998 and was
promoted Superintendent Executive Secretary in 2003. Prior
to ICTSI, she was with Anscor Travel Corp as Executive Secretary
to the Executive Vice President at the same time Administrative
Assistant to the Vice President for Finance.
Anthony Jake Duran
Information Systems Auditor
Arsenia Magtalas
Corporate Services
Group Assistant Manager
Rowena Gulinao
Business Analysis and
Valuation Services Manager
