RP ship agents
want to see easing of fees for 2004
PHILIPPINE ship agents are hoping that port and terminal
operators would relax their fees next year in order
to attract more shipcalls in the country, said Philippine
Ship Agents Association (PSAA) newly elected president
Agapito Capistrano.
In an interview with PortCalls Capistrano, also the
president of TMS Ship Agency, said fees paid by agents
are high as it is and yet "we are (still) getting
notices of increases from government agencies and terminal
operators."
The situation has led to a decline in the number of
international shipcalls in the country this year, bringing
little business to local ship agencies.
"Overall, this translates to a definite decrease
in cargo volumes being handled at ports, and lower number
of import and export commodities," he explained,
adding wheat importation dropped by as much as 10% this
year.
To arrest the decline, the country should look to Singapore
and South Korea, among other countries, which have agreed
to cut port fees.
Despite the unfavorable market performance, he said
Philippine ship agents have chosen to reduce costs for
shipowners and charterers even if this means lower revenues.
"This way, costs at the end of the day would be
cheaper and goods and commodities would be more manageable
to deliver," he pointed out.
Ship agents - through PSAA - are holding talks with
government agencies and terminal and port operators
regarding the matter.
"To a large extent, it is PSAA's job to fiscalize.
We don't want to deal with any issues in an adversarial
manner. The key here is enhanced dialogue with other
stakeholders," Capistrano said.
This year, ship agents are not expecting much. "We
only depend on the growth of the economy itself. The
GDP has grown 4% and we are holding on to that,"
he noted.
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Samudera
calls at MICT
SINGAPORE-BASED Samudera Shipping Line Ltd. recently
began calling at the Manila International Container
Terminal (MICT), the flagship operation of International
Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI).
Samudera vessels now call at the MICT monthly, averaging
300 TEUs per call. With the Manila calls, Samudera has
made available the Jakarta-Surabaya-Manila-Hong Kong-Qingdao-Shanghai-Hong
Kong-Manila-Jakarta route to the cargo forwarding public.
The inaugural call of the 1,200-TEU capacity M/V Sinar
Surya at MICT's Berth 5 marked the start of Samudera's
regular calls at the MICT. Arriving from Hong Kong,
the MICT handled the discharging of 300 TEUs and the
loading of 4 TEUs on Sinar Surya. The vessel's next
destination was Jakarta, Indonesia.
Wiliam Gutierrez, MICT Customer Relations Manager, presented
a commemorative certificate to vessel master Capt. Edwin
Ramas to mark the inaugural call.
Samudera is a regional container shipping line serving
the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent in the west,
South East Asia and Indo-China at the center, and the
Far East to the north. Its Philippine agent is Mac-Nels.
Samudera provides feeder services to main line operators
between deep harbor hub ports and outlying spoke ports.
It also provides inter-region and intra-region container
shipping services to manufacturers, buyers, exporters
and importers.
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Asian Spirit eyeing to go public by
2008
DOMESTIC carrier Asian Spirit Airlines is eyeing to
go public between 2005 and 2008.
Asian Spirit Corporate secretary Virgilio G. Farcon,
Jr., in a recent interview, said the company was given
this year a congressional franchise that allows it to
conduct an initial public hearing offering within five
years.
He said the company has already started streamlining
its operations and beefing up its fleet in preparation
for the IPO.
Farcon said the company bought three additional airplanes
(two 70-seater Advanced Turboprop (ATP) and a 50-seater
DASH-7) under a lease-to-own scheme bringing its fleet
to 14.
The first ATP, worth $4.5-million, was inaugurated recently.
It will be servicing Bohol, Catarman and Calbayog.
The second airplane, the newest member of Asian Spirit's
fleet, was expected to have been in the Philippines
last December 27.
The third plane, which will arrive within next year,
would fly direct from Manila to Surigao and vice versa.
Presently, Asian Spirit only flies to Surigao via Cebu.
Other destinations would be Virac, San Jose, Mindoro
and Baguio.
Meanwhile, Asian Spirit Executive Vice President Jack
Po said the company has deferred plans of going international.
"We have not given much thought to flying internationally.
We don't want to bite more than what we can chew,"
he said.
Po said the company expects a 15% to 20% growth in revenue
this year.
2004
Q2 | 2004 Q1
| 2003 Q4
December
| November |
October
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|
