The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is giving stakeholders 15 calendar days to submit position papers on the petition of port operator Manila North Harbour Port, Inc. (MNHPI) to include additional services and corresponding fees in Manila North Harbor’s official tariff.
The deadline for submission of positions started after February 23 following the PPA hearing panel’s public hearing on the port operator’s petition. Deadline is on March 10.
In a position paper dated November 22, 2017, MNHPI, operator of domestic terminal North Port at Manila North Harbor, listed proposed additional port services and the corresponding fees to be included in its formal tariff. The petition dates back to 2012, when the port operator first filed the petition, and this was followed, until 2014, by PPA-directed consultative meetings with shipping lines. In 2015, MNHPI again submitted a position paper, and in 2017, an updated position paper containing updated fees.
MNHPI senior vice president for corporate affairs Atty. Mark Vincent Escalona, during the hearing, clarified that the petition is not to seek an increase in the current rates of MNHPI, but to ask the port authority to approve the proposal. He noted that the proposed services are already included in the formal tariff of other ports.
The additional services are also not part of the regular services, but will only be rendered upon the request of port users, which include shippers, consignees, and shipping lines.
The proposed services whose rates will be determined by PPA include reefer charges, amendment fee/administrative fees, hustling of containers, crane standby, lift-on/lift- off, shutout/re-voyage, non-standard lifts, handling of out-of-gauge containers, container examination, extra labor services, equipment rental/hire, re-stowing of containers, weighing fees, and definition of roll-on/roll-off (RoRo), chassis-RoRo, and Sto-Ro (A vessel with capacity for breakbulk cargo as well as vehicles or trailer-borne cargo) operations.
MNHPI said these services are outside of the regular cargo handling cycle and require the provision of additional area, equipment, manpower, and electricity, among others, “thereby incurring cost to MNHPI.”
“The extra service and expense may require hustling of container, lift-off/dismounting of container, lift-on/dismounting of container, all resulting to additional actual expense to MNHPI, to name a few,” the port operator said.
The petition was presented to a PPA technical working group, and underwent a series of consultative meetings with the Philippine Liner Shipping Association (PLSA), members of which are most of the callers at the port.
The 2017 position paper noted that in the latest meeting on May 31, 2017, MNHPI and PLSA both “agreed on most of the tariff items stated on the position of MNHPI and that these services should be included in the North Harbor tariff.”
Both parties also agreed to elevate the rates of these services for further deliberation by PPA, it added, because, while shipping lines agreed to the inclusion of most of the services, the rates are yet to be decided.
MNHPI reiterated to PPA that the proposed tariff items “are mere adaptation of the tariffs of Philippine Ports (e.g. Davao, Cebu, Batangas, Manila South Harbor, etc.)” and are covered by a formal tariff in other ports such as Manila International Container Terminal, Port of Batangas, and Davao-Sasa Port.
MNHPI, meanwhile, is given five calendar days to respond after receiving the position papers of stakeholders.
The PPA hearing panel will convene a technical working group to deliberate on the petition and the position papers, and make a recommendation to the PPA Board for approval.
A separate public hearing on including garbage fee, another additional service in MNHPI’s petition, in the formal tariff will be held on March 2. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
