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The joint venture of Harbour Centre Port Holdings and Global Port Ozamiz Terminal bagged the P1-billion contract to operate Surigao baseport in Surigao Del Norte
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The contract is valid for a period of 15 years
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It covers the management and operation of the cargo-handling, passenger, Ro-Ro, and other port-related services at the port
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) awarded the P1-billion contract to manage Surigao baseport to the joint venture of Harbour Centre Port Holdings, Inc. (HCPHI) and Global Port Ozamiz Terminal, Inc.
The 15-year contract covers management and operation of cargo-handling, passenger, roll-on/roll-off (RoRo), and other port-related services at the port on Borromeo Street, Surigao City, Surigao del Norte. It involves stevedoring services, Ro-Ro cargo services, bagging services, container terminal management, passenger terminal management, porterage services, storage management, waste and shore reception facility management, water distribution services, weighbridge facility, and ancillary and other related services.
The JV was the lone bidder during the November 2021 project bidding. Another company had submitted its documents beyond the deadline. PPA’s Bid and Awards Committee in December 2021 has already declared the JV as the highest responsive bidder and recommended the award of the contract.
READ: PPA seeking bids for Surigao terminal operation
The bidding was conducted under the Port Terminal Management Regulatory Framework (PTMRF), PPA’s new guidelines for awarding terminal contracts. PTMRF, embodied under PPA Administrative Order No. 03-2016 issued in 2016, seeks to provide higher quality of port services by promoting greater private sector participation.
Under AO 03-2016, investments in ports are categorized into six tiers, ranging from a fully private concession to a fully PPA-managed port, to make it easier to determine investment arrangements of a port. PPA since last year has been bidding out port terminal management contracts for Tier 3 ports.
Surigao baseport falls under Tier 3, which means PPA handles the physical undersea and landside infrastructure (capital investment, wharves, piers, reclamation, dredging) while the contractor invests on above ground fixtures and semi-fixtures and mobile handling equipment (e.g., passenger terminal building, cranes, forklifts, trucks).
Aside from Surigao baseport, HCPHI, in its JV with Zamboanga-based Z.C. Integrated Port Services, Inc., won contracts for the ports of Iligan, Ozamiz, Zamboanga, Tacloban, Nasipit and Matnog.
The contract to operate Pulupandan port was won by HCPHI on its own.
Prudential Customs Brokerage Services, Inc. (PCBSI), meanwhile, won contracts for the ports of Ormoc, Puerto Princesa, Calapan, Legazpi and Tabaco.
PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago earlier said they are privatizing operations of PPA-managed ports. Including those already bidded out, Santiago said the target is to bid out a total of 25 port terminal management contracts before the end of the Duterte administration’s term.
The Philippine Inter-island Shipping Association earlier raised concern that only two companies—the JV of HCPHI and Z.C. Integrated as well as PCBSI—have dominated bidding for PTMRF port contracts. – Roumina Pablo
