PPA says Norwegian Jewel ‘cruise chaos’ incident is isolated

 MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Ports Authority on Friday acknowledged the concerns raised by a social media user on the alleged disorganized disembarkation process of Norwegian Jewel cruise passengers in Manila on November 30.

In a statement, the PPA said the incident was an "isolated" one and attributed the mishap to the alleged failure of the vessel's ship agent and the terminal operator to deploy personnel to manage passenger traffic at the pier.

This comes after Filipino passenger Nelson Terible described in a Facebook post a series of challenges allegedly experienced by 2,500 passengers, primarily Filipino-American retirees and foreign nationals, after completing a 10-day Southeast Asian cruise.

According to Terible's account, the cruise passengers were met with a lack of appropriate waiting sheds and personnel support upon disembarkation. The open parking space, where passengers retrieved their luggage, lacked sufficient porters and carts for the 2,500 individuals, many of whom were seniors with heavy baggage.

Terrible said that congestion ensued inside the terminal as passengers had to fit inside a single 2.5-meter entrance, leading to a hall designed for approximately 1,000 people. His Facebook post describes a lack of assistance from customs personnel as the whole ordeal took place under the midday sun.

PPA blamed the contracted third-party transport service, TPLI, and the vessel’s ship agent, Ben Line Agencies Inc., for the lack of personnel that could have assisted the disembarking and embarking passengers. 

PPA said that both agencies “committed to providing personnel for traffic management and the deployment of the porters.”

“None of these commitments from ATI and Ben Line Agencies Inc. happened since both did not deploy personnel for traffic management and only 20 civilian porters (not in uniform) have been provided to assist 2,353 disembarking passengers and 2,505 embarking passengers,” it added.

PPA said it has since requested an explanation from both agencies.

The port authority also added that the traffic was worse that day “since embarking passengers arrived three hours earlier than expected while the disembarking passengers are still being assisted by the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Immigration,” which it said was not agreed upon during a prior pre-arrival meeting.

The PPA earlier said that it is tightening security measures in ports due to the expected influx of around 5.1 million passengers during the holiday season from December 15 until January 15 next year.