Seafreight forwarders seek help from business groups

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association, Inc. (PISFA) has called for the cooperation of trade groups and business associations such as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) to look into the rate charges of international shipping lines that may affect the competitiveness of the country’s exports.

PISFA - Cebu chapter president Miguel Angel Larrauri raised the industry’s concern on maintaining competitive shipping costs to be at par with other countries.

He said that the "unmitigated and unwarranted" charges of shipping lines to shippers have detrimental effect to both forwarders and exporters.

"PISFA members have raised concerns on the increasing costs and their immediate impact on the competitiveness of our exports to other countries,” he said.

He noted that in Asia, Philippines has one of the highest domestic shipping costs which has affected the country’s competitiveness compared with its neighbors. 

“It can cost only $300-350 to send a 20-footer container to Japan but to send a 20-footer container from Cebu to Manila can cost more than double that cost. How can we be competitive with other countries if we can’t manage our own domestic cost?” Larrauri stated.

Some of the dozen of additional charges PISFA has enlisted include container imbalance charges applicable to all import shipments, and P150 container seal fee implemented by Zim Integrated Shipping Services, GSL Shipping Line and Korea Marine Transport.

Primary exports of the country include semiconductors and electronic products, transport equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil, and fruits.

The Philippines has also partnered with major trading countries such as  the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Taiwan, and Thailand.

PISFA recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL) to rationalize procedures in posting container deposits.

Only two of the 41 AISL member lines namely APL and K Line will participate in the scheme that will take effect for two years from April 16 of this year until 2015.

Under the agreement, a PISFA member-company will be allowed to deposit company checks for container deposits with AISL participating carriers. The check will be returned to the PISFA member within three to seven days after the turnover of the container. /JMD (FREEMAN)