Batangas Port adopts Automated Export Declaration System

0
831

ATI_BatangasPortLocators at economic zones exporting through the Batangas Port can now lodge their export declarations using the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) electronic-to-mobile (e2m) Automated Export Declaration System (AEDS).

“Our PEZA AEDS was installed 2 weeks ago in Batangas Port and is now operational,” Philippine Economic Zone Authority deputy director general Tereso Panga told PortCalls in a text message.

“Tests have been conducted and it’s ready to integrate with the BOC’s e2m system,” he added.

PEZA director general Lilia De Lima on June 2 approved the request of Maria Victoria Cabatcan, E-AEDS project coordinator, to implement the AEDS at the Bauan Port and Batangas International Port as ports of loading.

Cabatcan’s letter to De Lima noted that the BOC Batangas Export Division has been issued the necessary workstation and barcode scanner, while BOC users have undergone orientation conducted by the three accredited value-added service providers—Cargo Data Exchange Corp. (CDEC), Apollo Technologies, and InterCommerce Network Services.

Around 20 ecozone locators use the Batangas Port, according to Panga.

“We expect more locators to be utilizing the Batangas Port given the continuing port congestion in Manila and as we see more carriers regularly calling port in Batangas,” he noted.

Earlier, Panga said intra-Asian carrier MCC has doubled its calls to Batangas Port since May, while APL, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Evergreen have expressed interest in calling at the South Luzon port.

Leo Morada, CDEC chief executive officer, said three clients of Apollo Technologies and CDEC have begun using the AEDS.

Morada explained that the same AEDS is already being implemented at the Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port (MICP) and Cebu port, among others.

The AEDS is a BOC system module for receiving and processing the export declaration single administrative document (ED-SAD). An ED-SAD is submitted to the AEDS as an electronic representation of the export declaration, in lieu of the Department of Trade and Industry’s export declaration form used in the manual export declaration process.

On December 23, 2010, the BOC and PEZA signed Joint Memorandum Order No. 04-2010 prescribing the full implementation of the AEDS for the export shipments of PEZA-registered locator enterprises that are to be loaded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (now Clark International Airport), Port of Manila, MICP, Port of Subic, and Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

Morada said the requirement to lodge via AEDS in Batangas may help drive cargoes to the port facility since outbound shipments via Batangas should soon be technically easier with the electronic initiative.

Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) president Dan Lachica said the new policy is a welcome development since “automation always helps” as it “minimizes manual labor.”

Asked if the automation of the export declaration will drive locators to use Batangas Port, Lachica said it will “convince” locators.

Earlier, Ma. Flordeliza Leong, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. assistant vice president for advocacy, said, “This (AEDS) is surely an attractive, relevant and useful incentive for exporters to use Batangas Port.”

Meanwhile, non-PEZA or regular exporters at the Batangas Port have been lodging their ED-SADs through the BOC’s e2m AEDS since September last year, according to Morada. – Roumina Pablo

Photo courtesy of Asian Terminals Inc