Gov’t asked to address port congestion problem

MANILA, Philippines - The government was asked yesterday to require international shipping lines to remove empty containers from the Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) to resolve the problem of port congestion.

Aduana Business Club president Mary Zapata said the economy stands to lose billions of pesos because of this problem of port congestion.

Zapata said empty container vans are filling up almost 50 percent of the container yards.

“The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) or the government should address the problem,” she said. “It should require all shipping lines to have their own container yards outside (the port) and not allow their empty container vans inside the port.”

Zapata said Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) and International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), the private operators of POM and MICP, must coordinate with the shipping companies. 

Truckers must also do their share to reduce the volume of container vans at these two main ports, she added.

Zapata said some 20 local and international cargo vessels are unable to dock at the POM because of lack of available berthing spaces.

Ships have to wait in line to dock and unload cargo, she added.

Zapata said a ship able to get berthing spot would take a long time to discharge containers because no space is available, and trucks are still loaded with empty containers.

“We could not return these empty container vans because they, shipping lines and the two port operators, could not provide us with an area where to drop them off,” she said.

“We cannot do anything. Sometimes, we would be carrying these empty container vans for three days to more than a week, so how can we carry the laden containers out of the port? The port operations are so slow.” 

Zapata said they are beginning to have a bad reputation in the international community.

“Many of the cargoes bound for the Philippines are being rejected by the vessel operator,” she said.

“They no longer want to make a port call to the Philippines. Some no longer want to dock at the POM and the MICP, the vessels are trying to avoid Manila and that would be a trade problem.”