PPA sees normalization of Manila ports

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) expects operations at the Ports of Manila to normalize within the next four weeks as the government continues to pursue measures to resolve the congestion caused by the imposition of a day-time truck ban by the city government of Manila last February.

PPA general manager Juan Sta. Ana said in an interview with reporters that congestion at the Ports of Manila worsened due to the decision of the Manila City government to impose a day-time truck ban.

Sta. Ana pointed out that the pile-up of containerized cargo at the ports has resulted in inefficient operations.

“Traffic being experienced right now is caused by the declogging of the ports brought about by the pile-up of containers brought about by the earlier ban and we expect that traffic will slowly ease up especially with the run-up to Christmas is again just around the corner,” he said.

For one, foreign shipping lines and the port operators have agreed to send empty containers piling up at the ports of Manila to the Subic Ports and other ports. The empty containers are one of the major contributors to the Manila Port congestion.

He explained that there are about 17,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) empty containers occupying spaces at the Ports of Manila.

Foreign shipping lines have agreed to send sweepers to the Port of Manila – composed of the Manila International Container Terminal operated by International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) and the Manila South Harbor of Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) – to ship out the empties to Subic Bay.

In return, Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) and ICTSI agreed not levy any port fee including arrastre and stevedoring to all shipping lines that would bring their empty containers to the former US military naval bas.

“The PPA continues to exert extra effort in coming up with a win-win and long-term solution to the current condition through further consultation with the local government, other government agencies concerned and all the port stakeholders like cargo owners, freight forwarders, etc.,” Sta. Ana said.

Data showed that containerized cargo volume went down 3.12 percent to 418,204 TEUs in April compared to the 431,654 TEUs handled in the same period last year due to the imposition of the day-time truck ban last February.

Foreign boxes declined by six percent to 247,547 TEUs wherein import boxes retreated by 4.16 percent to 131,095 TEUs while export boxes dropped 8.1 percent to 116,452 TEUs.