HCPTI denies involvement in coal stockpiling

MANILA, Philippines - Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) yesterday denied any involvement in the alleged stockpiling of coal in Manila’s Port Area.

HCPTI said the accusations being hurled against it are damaging and disparaging to a company recommended for ISO 14001 for environmental management.

The HCPTI, located at the Manila Harbour Centre (MHC) which is Manila’s only privately-owned international port with world-class and environment-friendly facilities, also denied ever owning or running a site in Vitas area, where the coal stockpile has been reported.

While pictures circulated recently show such a stockpile, this is not the case at HCPTI, it said.

“That area and its stockpile of coal are neither part of the HCPT nor owned and being operated by the HCPT. The facility is situated inside an exclusive industrial complex and almost five kilometers from the nearest residential area. The impact of its coal handling and storage operations on the residents of Vitas, if any, is absolutely nil,” it added.

HCPTI does not and will never import or sell coal for profit, as claimed in published reports, because such activity is not within its corporate mandate, company officials maintained.

They said that as far as coal is concerned, the HCPTI, as owner and operator of an international port, is strictly limited only to the discharge of this commodity and other bulk cargoes from the vessels, store them within its facilities, and deliver them to the trucks of the ultimate consignees. And for that specific purpose, the company has all the permits from various government agencies, they added.

These include permits from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to handle international bulk and break-bulk cargo, an environment compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to store bulk cargoes that include coal and operate a 40,000-mt coal storage facility and handling facility, and Manila City Hall sanitary unit that certifies the company’s cleanliness and environment-friendly facilities.

Pursuant to HCPTI’s ECC, an MMT (Multi-Partite Monitoring Team) – composed of locators within the MHC, representatives from the various barangays, the city government of Manila and the DENR – regularly convenes and conducts inspections on port operations to check and ensure compliance with environmental laws and policies, the company said.

“Independent of these MMT inspections, the City of Manila and the DENR separately conduct surprise visits at HCPT’s ports. None of these inspections have resulted to negative findings in the operations of HCPT,” it added.

There are also regular tests on air and water conditions, the latest having been conducted last June 8. The HCPT passed all the tests.

As an ISO 9001-certified company, the HCPT said it adheres to international norms in environmental management protocols that include adequate covering of all coal stockpile pending delivery, construction of coal cargo bays as enclosure for coal stockpile, operational cargo handling procedures for minimizing and eliminating dust and spillage during bulk unloading from vessel, adequate covering of trucks and trimming of coal load during delivery, installation of tire baths inside the terminal and regular water-spraying of the terminal roadways, regular sweeping and collection of dusts modified to limit stirring dust, ongoing installation of dust-catchers/mesh to collect dust arising from unloading operations, traffic management within and outside the terminal to suppress dust and dirt, continuous tree planting to create natural wind barriers, strict enforcement of full and proper personnel protective equipment in such operations, and upgrading of existing water filtration and sewerage system to mitigate the minimal discharge of wastewater.

“Yet, HCPT does not allow any coal stockpile of clients to last more than five days or exceed the allowed 40,000 metric tons of stored coal. As a rule of thumb, in order to maximize the use of MHC’s yard space, HCPT mandates that all clients withdraw their coal cargo within five days from last discharge from the vessel. This is the same free storage period mandated by the PPA. For this reason, some clients have decided to lease or purchase lots in proximity to HCPTI. Thus, these clients receive their coal cargo from the vessel straight to their storage facilities,” it said.

Those clients are mostly power firms, steel and cement manufacturers and others that use coal in their plant operations.

“Numerous as they are, they are just among HCPT’s vast clientele because of its superior ability to discharge cargo from vessel to yard, resulting in lesser costs for the consignees and ultimately for the end-users. The HCPT is known in the industry for recording the fastest turnaround time for both ship and cargo handling. The management of HCPT, being involved in international port operations, is doing its best to deserve its part in the international effort to protect, not just the Philippine environment, but also the rest of planet Earth,” it added.