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The Philippine Ports Authority hopes to implement within the year the electronic ticketing system although its board has yet to schedule its review
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PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said there was an effort to shelve the electronic terminal management system but the PPA Board instead decided to conduct a review
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Santiago said he hopes the committee studying the system will be able to submit review results to the PPA Board by March
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If granted the green light, pilot ports are Matnog, Batangas, and Calapan
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) hopes to finally implement the planned electronic ticketing system within the year even as the PPA Board has yet to schedule its review.
“We’ve done a pilot test and, hopefully, within this year we’ll be launching…[the] electronic ticketing [system]…for seagoing passengers,” PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said in a media briefing on February 20.
PPA’s electronic terminal management system (ETMS) project, which features unified electronic ticketing capabilities, is pursuant to PPA Administrative Order (AO) No. 12-2019. The AO—which was issued on November 18, 2019—provides the rules for implementing a central ticketing system, an online application procedure that would support an integrated vessel booking, and payment system for roll-on/roll-off ports.
The ETMS aims to “provide a digitized and systematized process of recording and simultaneous submission of passenger manifest and vessel voyage information which can effectively be scaled and extended to support future phases of the terminal management process at the PPA port terminals.”
The system intends to strengthen security and safety standards by mitigating vessel overloading and controlling the flow of regulated goods and cargoes using PPA port facilities, and providing standard stakeholders’ registries, credentialing, licensing, and accreditation monitoring.
The new system will also streamline the payment and collection of port fees {terminal and cargo/roll-on/roll-off) and harmonize this with PPA’s existing electronic payment system. Setting up the system is in compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s mandatory requirement for the electronic exchange of information on cargo, crew, and passengers as part of the revised Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic.
In September 2020, the PPA pilot-tested the system at the port of Batangas and port of Calapan in Mindoro to prepare for the system’s planned full implementation in 2021. In November 2020, a public consultation was held with stakeholders ahead of AO 12-2019’s implementing rules and regulations.
READ: PPA tests online vessel booking, payment system at Ro-ro ports
In February 2022, PPA signed the contract with the winning bidder for its electronic terminal management system (ETMS) project featuring unified electronic ticketing capabilities. The joint venture of NextIX, Inc. and Carus Ferry Ab Ltd. was awarded the P499.898-millon project in December 2021 after it won the rebidding in October 2021.
READ: PPA signs contract for P500M e-terminal management system
Santiago disclosed, however, that “immediately [after the] change [in] administration, there was an effort to shelve [the ETMS].” For this reason, the PPA Board decided to review the system and created a committee to conduct the study. Santiago expects the committee will be able to submit the results to the PPA Board by March.
The PPA general manager, however, emphasized that the PPA managements’ position on the ETMS is that it “will be very, very, very” beneficial for passengers.
Santiago said the majority of domestic shipping lines do not have an online platform to sell tickets to passengers and this is why PPA is “providing [the service], as part of our terminal management system, [the] electronic ticketing facility.”
Shipping lines that already have existing online ticketing systems “have agreed that they will be allowed to continue with their online platform as long as this is integrated with the PPA ticketing system, at no cost to them,” the PPA official said.
Santiago noted, however, pointed out that the existing ticketing systems being used by domestic shipping lines may need system updates. “What we’re offering is instead of them paying for the upgrade, there is an available facility for all [that the shipping lines no longer have to pay for].”
“For those na walang [without a] system, there will be a system that they can enroll in na hindi na nila kailangang gumastos pa [and for which they don’t have to spend],” Santiago added.
If greenlit by the Board, Santiago said the pilot ports will be Matnog, Batangas, and Calapan. He said the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the provincial government of Sorsogon have requested that the Matnog port be included in the pilot program due to perennial issues experienced in that port.
Matnog port is widely known for recurrent congestion and truck queues, especially during the holidays when passengers travelling to cross to Leyte from Sorsogon flock to the terminal. There are also allegations of extortion at the gateway, such as fixers reportedly asking money from passengers and truckers so they can onboard vessels quickly.
READ: ARTA, other agencies seek to address Matnog port congestion
Batangas and Calapan ports are included because of the high volume of passengers they handle.
Earlier, the Philippine Inter-island Shipping Association asked ARTA to stop PPA’s bidding of the ETMS and to review AO 12-2019, claiming that implementing a central ticketing system would be “redundant,” “impractical,” and an additional burden to the riding public.
