Economic managers move to lessen impact of port congestion

MANILA, Philippines - Economic managers are drawing up measures to minimize the impact of port congestion on the economy and inflation rate following the truck ban implemented by the Manila City government.

Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) general manager Juan Sta. Ana yesterday urged the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) and Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI) to prioritize the release of food shipments to lessen the inflationary effects on food prices.

“Congestion continues but we cannot wait until condition normalizes. We are asking shipping lines to prioritize food items in hauling cargoes stacked at different foreign ports,” Sta. Ana said.

He added that some products are about to expire because the delivery of shipments now takes longer.

PPA and port operators are scrambling to declog the ports at the soonest time possible to address the looming food shortage in the metropolis.

Sta. Ana clarified that the order to prioritize food items would be limited to containers cleared by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“The marching order of the Cabinet Cluster on Port Congestion is to prioritize food items and shipments first in-first out and address food shortage and the inflation effect of congestion,” he said.

Consumer prices or inflation rose to 4.9 percent in July, the fastest pace since October 2011.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan was quick to blame the congestion at ports.

The country’s domestic output as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow between 6.5 and 7.5 percent this year, but expanded by only 5.7 percent in the first quarter.

Sta. Ana said ICTSI and ATI have designated areas for food shipments inside their ports to prolong the storage period of the items while waiting for Customs clearance and delivery.

Initial estimates showed that a fourth of containers piled up at the ICTSI’s Manila International Container Terminal and ATI’s Manila South Harbor are food items, while a fifth of static cargoes in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are food products.

The PPA and port operators will now ship out boxes containing ingredients of other consumer items to reduce the inflationary effects of congestion on the market prices of consumer products.

Congestion at the Port of Manila continues to decline by about 80 percent, officials said.

The Cabinet Cluster on Port Congestion is opening up additional empty container depots near Manila ports to further decongest ports.

The group is looking at transforming a 10-hectare empty lot inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) complex to temporarily house empty containers for collection by international shipping lines.

The CCP depot will only be operated from midnight to 5 a.m. to allow free flow of trucks to and from the area. – Lawrence Agcaoili, Evelyn Macairan