Siquijor — Have you ever almost missed your boat trip because you had to line up all over again to pay for a terminal fee in Cebu ports?
Soon, this will not become a problem anymore.
The Cebu Port Authority (CPA) is now on the process of establishing a Terminal Fee System (TFS) wherein payment of the terminal fee is already included in the ticket.
“This is good news from CPA. They will acquire a terminal fee system. It is a database in which shipping companies will link so you only pay once and don’t have to line up again for a terminal fee,” announced National Economic and Development Authority (Neda-7) Assistant Regional Director Dionisio Ledres Jr., who is also the secretary of the Regional Development Council (RDC-7), during the RDC’s full council meeting for the third quarter of 2017 at Coco Grove Beach Resort in San Juan, Siquijor, last Tuesday.
Based on the CPA’s timeline, they plan to meet with shipping lines to present the new system on the first week of October.
It will then be pilot-tested in the middle of October with three yet-to-be-identified shipping lines.
The CPA targets to issue a memorandum circular to have all shipping companies use the new TFS by December this year.
“One of the major inconveniences in going through the passenger terminals is the congestion caused by passengers lining up to purchase terminal fees. To solve this, CPA will be providing an online terminal fee system,” Ledres said when he presented the CPA’s updates.
Under this new system, shipping lines with their own computerized ticketing system can integrate the terminal fee automatically into the passenger tickets.
Some members of the RDC-7 welcomed the announcement of CPA.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) Regional Director Asteria Caberte said she’s thankful for the CPA’s innovation and encouraged other port authorities in other provinces to implement similar initiative.
The same was said by RDC 7 Vice Chairperson and Neda-7 Regional Director Efren Carreon.
“If we do this in Cebu, we have to also do this in other places,” he said.
Carreon lamented that in the port in Dumaguete City, people have to queue along the sidewalk with no shade in order to buy their tickets. He said the ticketing offices of shipping companies should be housed within the terminal buildings so it would be convenient for the people.