PPA: Ports are not for storage

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) on Sunday said it is crafting new policies to streamline procedures to prevent importers from using ports for storage.

“We are coordinating with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to ensure that importers do not delay filing their importation entries. We are gradually reviewing our processes within the PPA and the BOC,” PPA General Manager Jay Santiago said in a statement.

“Philippine ports under the supervision of the PPA are designed not as storage areas for importers and other users as these are mainly meant to move cargo,” he said.

Santiago said PPA has observed that some importers wait for about a month to file import entries for cargo despite these goods already unloaded in the ports.

The filing of entry signals the start of processing at the BOC.

“Some importers delay the filing of the import entry since they can save on storage cost (at the ports) compared to if they store goods in private warehouses. They pay only P700 a day (per container). For a month, that is P21,000 which is a small amount compared to the value of the shipment,” the PPA chief.

Importers have 30 days to pull out their cargo from the time these are cleared by the BOC, after which these are deemed condemned.

Santiago said the PPA has turned over to the Department of Agriculture (DA) the list of 20 consignees who failed to pull out over 500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of shipments of rice and other agricultural products at the Manila ports as of September 30.

He said the PPA, in a letter dated October 1, 2024, provided Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel the list of consignees on an inventory of pork, chicken, and onion shipments that remain unclaimed at the ports even after BOC has cleared the shipments as well as those which have exceeded the 30-day dwell time.

Santiago said the PPA has no jurisdiction over the consignees as its mandate is strictly focused on port management.

The PPA has directed the head of operations and engineering of Asian Terminal Inc., the terminal operator of Manila South Harbor, to report the overstaying containers to the BOC for appropriate disposition in accordance with Section 1129 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act concerning abandoned containers.

“We believe having this information on a regular basis will help both PPA and DA identify trends, address any challenges promptly, and improve overall service delivery,” Santiago said.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the expected demand surge during the Christmas season, the PPA chief said the ports authority has intensified its monitoring of pork, chicken, and onion inventories.

The agency provided the DA with a detailed inventory of these shipments at the Manila ports as of September 30 which include: 135 TEUs of pork shipments, 101 TEUs of chicken, and 24 TEUs of onions

The PPA reported 21 containers of pork have remained at the port for over 30 days, despite BOC clearance, with five containers exceeding 1,000 days in dwell time.

For chicken shipments, 22 containers cleared by the BOC are still at the port, with 12 of them exceeding 600 days in dwell time. Four onion containers have not yet received OLRS (On-Line Release System) clearance, which refers to the electronic release instructions for import shipment generated by the BOC’s electronic to mobile system. — BM, GMA Integrated News