Cebu business seeks action on congested port
Cebu business leaders send letter to Finance secretary seeking government action
THE Cebu business community is asking the government to immediately address what it described as the artificial port congestion in Cebu.
The letter, which was addressed to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, was signed by leaders of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cebu Business Club, Philexport-Cebu, Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association and Oriental Port and Allied Services.
The business leaders asked government to immediately expedite processing at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu for both inbound and outbound cargo.
They also requested Purisima to grant BOC Cebu District Collector Roberto Almadin additional authority to implement measures to speed up processing in the release of imports and to decongest the port by declaring areas as customs zones, where seized containers and those abandoned may be stored temporarily while auctioning is under process.
The business leaders pointed out several factors that led to what they said was an artificial port congestion, including over-capacity of the port, delays in processing of release of imports, delays and shut-out of containers for export, and shortage of truckers’ or haulers’ container chassis.
Congested
According to the sector, the Cebu International Port (CIP) can only accommodate up to 7,707 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit). However, as of Jan. 29, 2015, total TEUs consisting of import and export already reached 6,874 TEUs, which means total containers inside the international port are already 89 percent of capacity, way beyond the 75 percent ideal yard use rate.
“The big problem we are facing now is that the situation in Cebu port is al- ready congested,” PhilExport Executive director Fred Escalona said in a phone interview yesterday. He said the problem has already caused losses in revenues as delays in deliveries have affected business operations.
The letter also cited that the sudden surge of “alerts” coming from Manila, subjecting shipments to 100 percent examination with long procedures for lifting and indefinite time to release the cargoes to the consignees and the red tagging of the shipments comprising almost 80 percent of the imports, also contributed to the congestion.
Adding up to the congestion is the huge volume of donations for super typhoon Yolanda survivors that remained unclaimed and the abandoned shipments.
The business sector also reported delays and shutout of containers for export. It pointed out the before the Christmas break, exporters were allowed to start delivery of loaded containers to the CIP five days before the arrival of the vessel. Right now, they are only allowed to bring in loaded containers on the day the vessel docks at the port due to the limited space. This restriction adversely affected their shipments, the traders said.
The business leaders also pointed out that the limited receiving period of loaded containers has resulted in the shortage of container chassis. This led exporters and importers to keep the load containers at a temporary storage near the port, which is very costly. Exporters also pay for the lift off-lift on storage per day and hustling fees.
“Exporters now pay an average of P5,000 to rent private container yards for storage,” said Escalona.
“The current artificial port congestion and inadequate space for container storage have been too costly for importers and exporters alike,” the business leaders said.
They said that for importers, the longer processing time will cost them storage fees per container per day in excess of free of charge (FOC) period and demurrage charges per container per day in excess of the FOC period.
For exporters, the sector said some of them have to pay for temporary storage near the port just to make sure that once the vessel arrives, they can immediately bring the container to the CIP for loading.
Processing time
The letter also said that while the business sector supports the BOC-Cebu’s move of implementing strict examination and assessment for red-tagged cargoes, they called for speedy implementation of the procedure. They also asked that the district collector be designated as the one to lift the alert status
“Reverting to the usual three to six days processing could help a lot in declogging containers at the CIP, which will also allow exports to have ample space to store their containers inside the CIP. Ultimately, it will also unburden the businessmen of incurring additional charges which will be passed on to the price of goods, rendering our goods to be uncompetitive in the global markets,” the business leaders said.