By DANESSA O. RIVERA, GMA NewsMarch 3, 2015 2:16pm
Local and foreign businessmen on Tuesday disputed government claims that the problem of cargo congestion in the Port of Manila is already over, saying the Philippines simply entered the seasonal lean months for incoming shipments.
The situation has improved because it is the lean season, but congestion remains in the ports, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said in an interview with GMA News Online.
“I talked to exporters recently and their feedback is… it is far from normal. As a matter of fact, trucking cost is still the same,” Ortiz-Luis said.
“During the pre-congestion time, they said the normal utilization is 60 percent but what they [the government] are saying is around 80 percent… Malayo pa din sa normal,” he added.
Malacañang on Monday said the Port of Manila was fully decongested last month, as ships were able to dock within 24 to 60 hours.
The Joint Foreign Chambers, composed of seven foreign chambers, also observed that the situation in the main seaports have yet to normalize.
“The reason for that is we are now in the low season and the market has reacted… The transportation cost has been going up… The trucking costs from the ports and to the ports have been going up three to four times as high,” European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) president Michael Raeuber said in a briefing on the sidelines of the Arangkada Forum in Makati City.
“The market has reacted and provided additional facilities. Productivity, however, is still low. We have to see what will happen in the second half of the year,” he added.
Already normal, DOTC insists
In contrast, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) spokesperson Miguel Sagcal told GMA News Online that port situation has normalized compared with the same non-peak season for shipments.
“I think we should be comparing today, post peak season of 2014, and the initial stages of port congestion,” he said on the sidelines of the forum. “Comparing those to two seasons, we’re at a normal rate.
“That’s the more proper way of looking at it, compare the non-peak to the non-peak than non-peak to peak season,” he added.
However, officials of Confederation of Truck Association of the Philippines (CTAP) noted that cargo congestion, which has been existing for almost a decade, remains at the ports.
The truckers’ operations to and from the ports have returned to pre-February 2014 situation, when the City of Manila banned trucks from plying the city’s roads from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, except on Sundays and holidays, CTAP director Albert Suansing told GMA News Online.
“As far as deliveries are concerned, hindi na naaantala ang operations compared to during congestion period,” he said.
“But what needs to be resolved is daytime operations, ‘yung sa loob ng port ng cargoes… because ang tingin namin ang average time ng containers sa loob ng pier ay 12 days,” he noted.
Truckers are now more concerned with how to speed up the flow of cargoes inside the ports to avoid another saga of port congestion, Suansing added.
“Talagang noon pa naman, may congestion na. Ang gusto namin ngayon ay kung papano pa mapapabilis ang flow ng cargoes papuntang consignees,” he noted.
Mind-conditioning?
Meanwhile, CTAP president Ruperto Bayocot said the government’s pronouncement is a way for government to appease the truckers, importers and shipping lines.
“Kino-condition lang nila ang importers, shipping lines. Malalaman ‘yan sa importers na nagrereklamo sa charges ng shipping lines,” he told GMA News Online in another phone interview.
“Sinabi nila na wala ng port congestion para tanggalin ng shipping lines ang additional charges,” Bayocot claimed, saying ships still take days before being able to dock in the ports of Manila. – NB/VS, GMA News
Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/445785/economy/business/pcci-foreign-chambers-dispute-govt-on-port-decongestion
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