Phl needs int'l port in Dingalan Bay

MANILA, Philippines - A study conducted by a faculty member of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) stressed the need for the establishment of an international port at Dingalan Bay to cash in on the $30 billion worth of potential trade activity in the Philippine eastern seaboard.

In a report, AIM faculty member Fernando Roxas said the government should note the strategic importance of an international seaport facing the Asia Pacific region.

 “Whatever the historical reasons, the Philippine government cannot continue to ignore the strategic importance of developing Luzon’s eastern seaboard facing the Pacific Ocean,” Roxas said.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is made up of 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim and accounts for 40 percent of the world’s population, 54 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), and 44 percent of international trade.

 “Although the Philippines sits as a member of APEC, our main port in Manila actually faces away from the Pacific Ocean. As a consequence, the country’s eastern seaboard, which should be prime real estate following the experience of other Pacific Rim countries, is neglected and woefully undeveloped,” he lamented.

As early as 1995, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) through its 25-year Master Plan identified the Dingalan Bay that straddles the provinces of Aurora and Quezon as a technically viable and attractive site for an international port.  

Dingalan Bay makes for an excellent sea port because of adequate depth that could accommodate large vessels without the need for dredging or long causeways. A major cost component in development however, would be a deep, breakwater structure.

Roxas said there are other port sites on the eastern side of Luzon such as Port Irene North of Dingalan that is in the northern most part of Luzon and Port Real in the South located in Quezon.

 “The most direct way of approaching the problem is to focus on the three to five days shorter shipping route as an alternative to carrying merchandise from a country having a port in the Pacific to any of the ports in the western side of Luzon – mainly the Port of Manila, to some extent Subic and to a much lesser extent, the Port of Batangas,” he said.

 To make allowances for high value or perishable goods sent by air that account for about 10 percent of the value of goods traded with major pacific suppliers or markets while a great majority are shipped.

 “Thus, the estimated potential throughput for a port in Dingalan would be 65 percent of the total pacific trade to account for goods being traded with the major ports in Visayas and Mindanao. This still leaves more than $ 30 Billion per year of potential trade going through the eastern seaboard,” Roxas said.