DTI expects joint order on shipping costs, port congestion out in 2 weeks

MANILA, Philippines — The joint administrative order (JAO) to address high shipping fees and port congestion would be released within two weeks, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez told reporters the JAO, which was supposed to be released last week, is being finetuned as some stakeholders requested to be given more time to provide their comments.

The government initially wanted to release the JAO by mid-February.

“We will be signing that hopefully within one or two weeks,” Lopez said.

The JAO seeks to address concerns raised by the private sector such as high shipping costs and congestion at the ports due to unreturned empty containers and overstaying imports in the premises of Asian Terminals Inc.’s Port of Manila (POM) and International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s Manila International Container Port (MICP).

The order would be issued by the DTI and other government agencies such as Department of Finance, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Internal Revenue, Maritime Industry Authority, Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Lopez said the JAO would cover regulation of charges or fees being imposed by shipping lines.

In particular, the BOC will be responsible for regulation and monitoring all fees concerning empty container returns and charges of shipping lines.

Under the JAO, shipping lines would not be allowed to charge fees in the Philippines and instead, all charges would form part of shipping lines’ freight and other origin charges.

While the JAO has yet to be released, Lopez said the government is already taking steps to address the high yard utilization at the ports in Manila as the BOC has recently issued a customs memorandum order which temporarily prohibits importers, truckers, brokers and other port stakeholders from retuning empty containers in ports except those covered by a special permit to load issued by the agency.

Earlier, the DTI said a joint memorandum circular between BOC and PPA would also be issued to bring the utilization rate of container depots in Manila back to 70 percent.

Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. has said the release of the JAO would be a big help to exporters who have to deal with  high shipping costs and the congestion at the ports.

In addition, he said implementation of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Act signed into law in May last year, through the immediate appointment of the director general of the Anti-Red Tape Advisory (ARTA) Council, would also help support a rebound in exports.

Lopez said the DTI has already endorsed three possible candidates to head the ARTA to President Duterte.

The ARTA will oversee the implementation of the EODB which seeks to cut bureaucratic red tape in government by providing a period for government transactions to be completed.