Report offers roadmap for port development in Mega Manila

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WP_20140830_007A twin-track solution of intermediate and long-term action plans to address Manila’s port congestion and provide a roadmap for port and road infrastructure development for Mega Manila trade is the centerpiece of a paper produced by port and shipping stakeholders.

The “Port and Road Infrastructure for Greater Luzon Trade September 2014” report contains inputs from port operators Asian Terminals Inc., International Container Terminal Services, Inc., and Manila North Harbour Port Inc.; and industry groups Association of International Shipping Lines, Integrated North Harbor Truckers Association, Philippine Liner Shipping Association, Philippine Inter-Island Shipping Association, and Port Users Confederation Inc.

Efficient, cost-effective shipping and port systems functioning as key elements of global supply chains play a major part in fuelling economic development and prosperity. This view, said the report, is confirmed by international organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“Supply chain disciplines underpin Philippine international and domestic trade, especially those based on the use of the container system,” the report stated. “Any serious disruption of cargo flow lowers efficiency, generates additional costs and ultimately represents a cost to the economy.”

Disruptions on the import side can be found along the length of the supply chain, from the ship and port to the road, warehouse, container yard, and factory, the report said. These include long berthing and waiting time, bad weather, crane and equipment downtime and stoppage, overstaying containers, strikes, slow clearances, shortage of manpower, road traffic and breakdown, truck bans, floods, security and hijacking threats, poor inventory management, full container yards, and lack of available space.

Holdups to efficient export flows are almost the same, the report stated, with the addition of delays in production and releasing of documents from the point of production.

These bottlenecks were brought into focus when the Manila truck ban was imposed in February 2014, causing much complication for the supply chain, the biggest being the congestion at Manila ports.

The report recommended a twin-track solution of intermediate and long-term action plans that hold “major potential to alleviate congestion problems on a short and long-term basis and thereby getting trade moving again.”

For intermediate action plans, the following are suggested:

  • A moratorium on truck bans.
  • Operate multiple 24-hour single lanes, especially for the North, South, and Cavite expressways for all cargoes.
  • Operate a 24-hour free flow exemption policy for refrigerated, perishable, and dangerous cargoes.
  • Exclude Saturdays from truck ban rules.
  • Eliminate arbitrary apprehension of trucks by government enforcement agencies, and go after illegal parking of trucks on roads within the port zone.
  • Approve immediate construction of the North Harbor Link road and Metro Pacific Port Connector Road system.
  • Implement 24/7 vehicle booking system.
  • Formulate necessary legislation to enable transfer of long-staying boxes to inland container depots and the penalizing of use of terminals as warehouses.
  • Fast-track development of yard capacity behind Berth 7 at Manila International Container Terminal.
  • Eliminate bottlenecks formed by informal settlers and illegal businesses on Bonifacio Drive, Anda Circle, and R10.
  • Speed up Manila North Harbor Port modernization program covering its facilities, cranes and manpower.
  • Maximize efficiency of port area by identifying and clearing underutilized areas, including relocating informal settlers and providing housing for port workers.
  • Study how to improve the Manila port network.

As a long-term action plan, the following are suggested:

  • Identify an agency or person with authority and accountability for overall planning of the transport system to ensure supply chain is efficient.
  • Formulate a master plan for the whole Port Area of Manila to accommodate long-term growth in trade.
  • Formulate a master plan for staged expansion of Port of Batangas to accommodate present and future Laguna- and Batangas-based trade for both international and domestic cargoes.
  • Formulate a master plan for staged expansion of Port of Subic to accommodate present and future Subic-Clark-Tarlac-based trade for both international and domestic cargoes.
  • Formulate a master plan for an access road system from Cavite to Manila Ports, including an underground tunnel running from Vito Cruz to the port and to be located under the Roxas Boulevard area that has a waterfront park above it.
  • Formulate a far-reaching strategy and master plan to encourage business relocation to other development hubs within or outside of Luzon.
  • Adopt an overall vision to have five excellent ports serving international and domestic trades to give shippers, consignees, shipping lines, and logistics providers more choices based on efficiency levels, and develop these ports not for present trade but with an eye on the future.

“The combination of the immediate and long-term action plans promises to deliver workable solutions that play a meaningful part in keeping Metro Manila moving while maintaining the integrity of international and domestic supply chains,” the report said.

Moreover, “integration not separation” between city and port is “the lesson to be learnt from global experience,” it said.

“Together, the two entities can deliver a larger critical mass of beneficial commercial activity—one feeds off the other.”

The positive coexistence of both, however, requires hard work and coordinated planning, the report added, citing two notable port-cities—Melbourne, Australia and Vancouver, Canada—as examples.

“Both have embraced new technology to optimize traffic management and simultaneously are investing in new infrastructure to ensure peaceful co-existence between port and city. In both cases, key port areas are in close proximity to high-end residential and retail properties,” the report further stated.

The template drawn up by the Philippine government back in the late 1980s to privatize the main container terminals in the Metro Manila area “has proved a highly successful one,” it added, noting that under normal operating conditions, the terminals should be able to offer sufficient capacity to efficiently meet all market needs.

However, terminals cannot operate to their full potential “when the supply chain is hampered by inadequate road infrastructure resulting in extraordinary measures such as truck bans in predetermined hours.”

Other measures suggested for the free flow of import and export cargoes are to keep the road network “seamless and wide enough” to accommodate truck traffic, and to ensure flow is unimpeded by continuously reviewing and expanding the whole system “to ensure that growth is not compromised.”

A direct port access road is also seen as essential for port efficiency, vessel berth stay time, and optimum road transport.

“The root cause of congestion is the lack of a dedicated port access road to the Manila ports,” the report said.

The North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway connector road proposed by Metro Pacific Transport Corp. with a connection to the three ports “will resolve the current issues and concerns,” it said.

The report added that Metro Manila has an urgent need to catch up with the delivery of appropriate road infrastructure and lay solid plans for the future.

These plans as spelt out by transport stakeholders “can build towards the ultimate goal of adding new port capacity in tandem with supporting road system development” and are essential to obtain optimum use of the new port facilities and achieve efficient supply chain operations to support growth in overall trade, the report said. – Roumina Pablo