Port congestion, cargo delays seen to affect prices of goods, say groups

The reported congestion in the port of Manila's container yards have slowed down the unloading of containers from vessels and the transport of cargoes to their destination.

According to Maki Pulido's report on "24 Oras," this contributes to the increase in the cost of logistics, which could affect prices of goods.

Based on estimates of the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines (CTAP), at least 27% of price of goods passed on to consumers go to clearance, documents ad other fees in the processing of cargoes.

“Anything na consumable natin ay nagmamahal dahil lumalaki ang logistics cost… [around] 27%. We are the highest in the whole Asia,” Mary Zapata of CTAP said.

The Port Truckers Customs Brokers Multipurpose Cooperative also aired their grievances over the congested port yards which the group said cause a delay in the unloading of containers and container turnaround.

Under the current system at ports, a vessel would unload container vans to be stored at port yards.

Truckers would then pick up the container vans to transport them to  destination.

Empty container vans are returned to port yards to be picked up by vessels out of the country.

According to the report, it now takes longer days before ships can unload the  container vans with items. Due to this, truckers could only make two trips in a week instead of four.

"Nag-dwell na ng three days up to a week ang isang barko para lang maibaba ang mga incoming natin,” Rey Solimna, a member of the multipurpose cooperative said.

Truckers said only around 50% of container vans in the port were being released per day as compared to 75% before.

They added that they also need to pay the shipping line P1,000 per day for the “detention fee” of empty container vans.

Aside from these, they are also charged almost P100,000 by the shipping line as compared to the previous billing of P20,000 to P30,000.

Soliman warned of further delays in the unloading of cargoes as the volume could increase during he Christmas season,

“Ang nakita namin solusyon obligahin ng Bureau of Customs (BOC) si shipping line na maglagay ng sariling depot equivalent sa ini-import niyang containers para balanse po. Matagal na natin sinasabi yan sa kanila,” he said.

Philippine Ports Authority

In response, the Philippine Ports Authority said that all operations at Manila ports are normal.

“All aspects of operations at the Manila Ports are under optimum condition with an average berth occupancy rate for the North Port, South Harbor, and the Manila International Container Terminal at 43%,” it said.

Vessel berth waiting time is currently at 3 days or shorter than the usual waiting time while the yard utilization rate of the mentioned ports is at 59%, way below the threshold level of 75%,” it said.

GMA News is still trying to get comments from the BOC regarding the matter.—Mel Matthew Doctor/LDF, GMA News