AISL: Cargo movement vital in fighting Covid-19
THE Association of International Shipping lines (AISL) said keeping cargo moving is vital in delivering medical and protective materials to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid -19) pandemic.
AISL President Patrick Ronas said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has reiterated that cargo should be moving, be it essential or nonessential, to maintain the supply chain.
“Ensuring the flow of cargo most especially personal protective equipment (PPEs), medicine, food and raw materials for manufacturers of such is also a potent weapon against Covid- 19,” he told the
The terminals in the country continue with their business as ships continue to move and bring cargo as per schedule. Truckers had challenges at the start, as they were unable to cross borders.
“One thing that is urgent and needs to be addressed are reefer containers. These reefer containers need to be pulled out of the terminal by consignees. Should incoming reefer containers coming from the ships are not plugged in, this will result to deterioration or damage to the product. It is imperative that we all take effort in picking up the reefers currently in the terminals as some of them have been in there for quite some time,” he said.
The challenge, he said is how to turn the wheels of commerce, even when all were staying at home in the meantime.
“Cargo will have to move and therefore ships will be required to carry them. There is a major decline on our exports as most of them need the manpower and mobility as we know, is limited for a lot,” he said.
He explained that staffing or their own ‘frontliners’ also had issues getting to their stations, in view of the quarantine measures by certain cities.
The Philippine Ports Authority ( PPA) provided help in getting the shipping lines their IATF Pass, but only those workers in-charge of processing certain documents were issued with the Pass.
AISL has conveyed its gratitude to those who have gone out of their way to support the shipping lines.
“The stevedores at the terminals and their management, the Container Depot operators, the shipping line staff manning the counters and our terminal staff for their untiring effort in making sure that the operational requirements of our clients and ships are met. The truck drivers and helpers and the personnel of brokerage firms who travel to and from their offices and customs houses — we hail you,” he said.
Safety remains a paramount importance to each of us and staying at home is the way to fight this disease.
“No one is spared with the effects of Covid -19. The effect of social distancing and quarantine measures are being felt by the industry not only locally but internationally as well,” he said.
Coming from an extended Chinese New Year, meant a delay in the ramp up in volumes. The import cargo has been delayed in coming last month, as Chinese factories extended their shutdowns. And then when China started healing itself, the virus has spread to Europe and the United States.