(Eagle News)–Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has called on cargo owners and consignees to withdraw overstaying cargoes inside the Manila International Container Terminal to help free up needed space for incoming cargoes carrying essential items amid the COVID-19 emergency.
“A healthy port is what is most needed now as we find ways to efficiently deliver needed goods and services to our fellow Filipinos who are trying to break free from the clutches of the coronavirus pandemic,” Tugade said.
Tugade made the appeal after Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago warned of a possible shutdown of the Port of Manila if cargo owners and consignees continue to ignore calls.
Santiago had said that despite efforts to transfer cleared and overstaying containers from the MICT to a facility inside the Manila North Harbor, there was still not enough breathing space for the Manila Port terminals to operate efficiently and productively.
“Ports, specifically the Manila ports, are the lungs of the country’s commerce and trade. These lungs right now are not functioning efficiently due to congestion.. If we continue to ignore calls to withdraw even only those cleared, ready for delivery, and overstaying cargoes, these lungs are in danger of total collapse, resulting in full-blown port congestion, or worst, a shutdown, and consequently a shortage in the much needed goods and supplies which are expected to address the demands of the market,” Santiago had said.
According to the PPA, yard utilization at the Manila international ports — composed of the MICT and the Manila South Harbor — are almost 100 percent full with majority of cargoes now idle following the declaration of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.
The PPA over the weekend began coordinating with the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Department of Trade and Industry(DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), among others, to find measures that will prevent congestion at the ports in compliance with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ order to clear the ports with overstaying containers.
These measures include the forfeiture of overstaying cargoes in favor of government, the reduction of the cargo clearing period and free storage period from the current allowable time, and the imposition of heavy fines, penalties and storage fees on cargo owners.
The agencies are expected to come out with a Joint Memorandum Circular on this.
Based on the proposed JMC, all cargoes that have been discharged from the vessels for more than 30 days, and remain at the port, should be withdrawn within five days from the date the JMC becomes effective.
If this was not done, the cargoes would be declared abandoned.
Cargoes that have been discharged from the vessels for less than 30 days, and all other incoming cargoes, on the other hand, have to be withdrawn within ten days or be considered abandoned.
“Once declared abandoned, such cargoes may be forfeited in favor of the government,” the DOTr said.
