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Mega Lifters bags Pasig River and Pagadian port contracts
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The Philippine Ports Authority awarded the 15-year port terminal management contracts to Mega Lifters Cargo Handling Corp
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Pasig River port has a proposed concession fee of P2.49 billion
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The concession fee for Pagadian port is P132.167 million
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Mega Lifters was the lone bidder for both contracts
Mega Lifters Cargo Handling Corp bagged the 15-year port terminal management contracts for the ports of Pagadian and Pasig River.
In separate notices, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) awarded Mega Lifters the contract for Pasig River port in Manila and Pagadian port in Zamboanga del Sur for proposed concession fees of P2.490 billion and P132.167 million, respectively.
In two separate resolutions adopted on May 23, PPA’s Bid and Awards Committee recommended the award of contracts to Mega Lifters, declared the highest responsive bidder for both ports.
Mega Lifters was the lone bidder during the respective opening of bids for Pagadian and Pasig River ports on April 11 and 25.
The contract for the Pasig River port covers the management and operation of cargo-handling, passenger, roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) and other services.
The Pagadian port contract, on the other hand, covers the management and operation of cargo-handling and Ro-Ro services.
Both contracts involve stevedoring, Ro-Ro, bagging, passenger terminal management, porterage, storage management, waste and shore reception facility management, water distribution, weighbridge facility, and ancillary and other related services.
Opposition to tariff rise at Pasig River port
A group of port users earlier asked PPA to stop an impending tariff increase at the Pasig River port once a new cargo-handling operator is in place.
In a petition to the PPA Board dated April 11, the Pasig Port Users Against PPA Tariff Increases said the new tariff, which will take effect once a winning bidder takes over port operations, will raise the tariff for dry bulk cargo by 949%.
“No amount of improved or additional services, if any at all, can support this unconscionable increase,” the group said, adding that if the increase happens its members will consider moving operations to neighboring North Port, operated by Manila North Harbour Port Inc. (MNHPI), and Manila Integrated Cargo Terminal, operated by Northstar Shipping & Marine Services Inc. Those ports’ tariffs, they claimed, are similar to Pasig River port’s current rates.
Comprising Movers and Managers Corp., J-Tram Integrated and Marketing Corp., CQ Heirs Shipping Lines, TBB Enterprises, San Nicholas Lines Inc., and JVS Journey Sea Trans. Inc., the group is instead proposing a tariff increase similar to the 24% hike granted by PPA to MNHPI in 2017. Such increase was implemented in three tranches of 8% annually over three years.
The Pasig River and Pagadian port biddings were conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in PPA Administrative Order (AO) No. 12-2018, as amended.
AO 12-2018 provides guidelines for selecting and awarding contracts under PPA’s Port Terminal Management Regulatory Framework (PTMRF), which outlines the new rules for terminal management contracts.
Both Pagadian and Pasig River ports fall under Tier 3 of the PTMRF, which means the contractor’s investments include above-ground fixtures and semi-fixtures, and mobile handling equipment (e.g. passenger terminal building, cranes, forklifts, trucks).
In 2021, Pagadian port handled 24,374 metric tons of domestic cargoes and serviced 253 ships, while the terminal management office of Pasig River handled 848,960 metric tons of domestic cargo and 9,595 passengers.
Aside from the two ports, PPA has also bid out and awarded the port terminal management contracts for other Tier 3 ports, including Puerto Princesa, Ormoc, Tabaco, Legazpi, Zamboanga, Iligan, Ozamiz, Calapan, Tacloban, Nasipit, Matnog, Fort San Pedro, Pulupandan, Surigao, Masao, and Tagbilaran.
PPA early this month also bid out the port terminal management contract for Sasa port in Davao, the first to be bid out under Tier 2 of the PTMRF.
On May 16, the PPA declared the joint venture of subsidiaries Globalport Terminals Inc. and Globalport Ozamiz Terminal Inc. as the bidder with the highest bid price for the Sasa port. – Roumina Pablo
