The vehicle booking system (VBS) will be operational within the second or third quarter of this year, according to a port executive.
Implementation of the VBS is by September or even earlier, said Christian Gonzalez, head of Asia, the Pacific and the Subcontinent of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), operator of the Manila International Container Terminal.
“We’re just choosing a supplier now,” the port executive said in a chance interview with PortCalls last week, noting the project will be implemented together with port operator Asian Terminals Inc., operator of the Manila South Harbor.
Gonzalez noted that for the project to be seamless, the two terminals have to agree to use the same process “because you’re using the same trucks.” This is to avoid booking one truck with both terminals at the same time.
Asked if the government would be amenable to lifting the truck bans after the VBS implementation, Gonzalez replied: “Once we prove that the vehicle booking system really reduces everything, you’ll see that they (government) will do it.”
ICTSI earlier requested the government to lift its truck bans and replace the same with the VBS.
The Department of Transportation and Communications and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have expressed approval for the VBS.
The VBS is a truck appointment system that requires truckers to secure advance appointment from port operators before proceeding to the terminals to pick up or deposit containers. The system will reduce queuing of trucks on the roads, since trucks can only travel to the ports when they have a verified transaction. Similar appointment systems are already being used in other ports around the world.
A related application, the Web-based empty container return application, is now on pilot implementation in Metro Manila. With the application, shipping lines can book online a truck that will carriage an empty container to an off-dock container yard. This reduces queuing of trucks outside a container yard as they wait for space to become available. – Roumina Pablo
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