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Pagadian port has been turned over to its new operator, Mega Lifters Cargo Handling Corp., winner of the 15-year port terminal management contract for the Zamboanga del Sur gateway
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PPA’s Port Management Office Zamboanga port manager Arcidi Jumaani turned over the Pagadian port to Mega Lifters general manager Rey Alarcon in a ceremony on December 9
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The notice to proceed with the turnover and the contract were signed on December 2
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Mega Lifters was the lone bidder with a concession fee of P132.167 million during the April 11 opening of bids for Pagadian port contract
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has turned over Pagadian port to its new operator, Mega Lifters Cargo Handling Corp., which won the 15-year port terminal management contract for the Zamboanga del Sur gateway.
PPA Port Management Office Zamboanga port manager Arcidi Jumaani turned over the management and operation of Pagadian port to Mega Lifters general manager Rey Alarcon in a ceremony on December 9, PPA said in a statement.
The turnover comes a few days after the notice to proceed with the turnover and the contract were signed on December 2.
RELATED READ: Mega Lifters takes over Pagadian port
Mega Lifters was the lone bidder for the contract when bids for Pagadian port were opened on April 11. The firm proposed a concession fee of P132.167 million. Its notice of award was signed on May 27, 2022.
The contract covers the management and operation of the cargo-handling, roll-on/roll-off (RoRo), and other port-related services at the facility.
The projects involve stevedoring services, Ro-Ro cargo services, bagging services, container terminal management, storage management, waste and shore reception facility management, water distribution services, weighbridge facility, and ancillary and other related services.
The bidding was conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in PPA Administrative Order No. 12-2018, as amended.
AO 12-2018 provides the guidelines for selecting and awarding contracts under PPA’s Port Terminal Management Regulatory Framework (PTMRF), which outlines the new rules for terminal management contracts.
Pagadian port is a Tier 3 port under the PTMRF. As such, the contractor’s investments will include above-ground fixtures and semi-fixtures, as well as mobile handling equipment, such as a passenger terminal building, cranes, forklifts, and trucks.
Pagadian port handled 24,374 metric tons of domestic cargo and serviced 253 ships in 2021. In the first nine months of 2022, the port handled 37,624 metric tons of domestic cargo and 161 ships.
Aside from Pagadian port, Mega Lifters won the 15-year contract to manage and operate the Pasig River port under the PTMRF.
PPA since 2020 had already bid out and awarded 18 ports under Tier 3, including Puerto Princesa, Ormoc, Tabaco, Legazpi, Zamboanga, Iligan, Ozamiz, Calapan, Tacloban, Nasipit, Matnog, Fort San Pedro, Pulupandan, Surigao, Masao, Tagbilaran, Pagadian, and Pasig River ports. It has also bid out and awarded one Tier 2 port, Davao Sasa port.
Then PPA officer-in-charge Francisquiel Mancile announced in a press briefing in September that PPA had put on hold the bidding of ports under the PTMRF pending a review, in compliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order to reduce transport costs and make shipping fares affordable.
Several stakeholders and business groups, including the National Economic and Development Authority-Regional Development Councils VIII and IX, however, have requested PPA to suspend the collection of of new tariffs under PTMRF pending a review as they are very much higher than previous rates.
In a Lower House hearing in November, reappointed PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago acknowledged that the rates, particularly in Zamboanga port, had increased.
RELATED READ: Solon asks PPA to cut Zamboanga cargo-handling rates
He claimed that cargo-handling costs made up only less than 5% of the total logistics costs and that the increase in logistics or commodities costs cannot be attributed solely to the higher cargo-handling rates.
Santiago also said PPA had already privatized 19 ports under PTMRF and was in the process of privatizing more ports.
