Traders losing business due to port congestion
EXPORTERS CRY OVER ABANDONED CONTAINER
Philexport Cebu Chapter Executive Director Fred Escalona (left) presents the issues on exports and the Cebu port to Cebu Port Authority General Manager Edmund Tan (second from left) and Opascor General Manager Tomas Riveral (right) during a forum. With them is Cebu 4th district Rep. Benhur Salimbangon. (CDN PHOTO/CHOY ROMANO)
Exporters are worried that the congestion of containers in the Cebu International Port (CIP) is affecting the movement of their products.
That congestion will result in delay of the shipments, said Fred Escalona, executive director of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport)-Cebu Chapter during a forum yesterday.
“Our exporters are getting orders, but they cannot deliver on time due to the delay. Each delay has an estimated loss of $15,000 per shipment. Some buyers penalized the exporters due to the delay,” Escalona said.
Escalona is asking the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) and Oriental Ports and Allied Coordinating Services (Opascor) to address the problem.
The capacity of containers that the CIP can accommodate is 4,000 Teus (twenty-foot equivalent units), said Opascor President Tomas Riveral.
Riveral, however, said that most of the containers stored in the CIP are abandoned or those confiscated by the BOC last year.
“We understand that the BOC is just doing their job to seize smuggled items from the smugglers,” Riveral added.
Last week, BOC-Cebu District declared 1,360 (teu) containers abandoned. BOC Commissioner John Philippe Sevilla ordered to dispose the items immediately.
The abandoned containers had already underwent inventory and are now on the stage of assessment for value, said lawyer Paul Alcazaren, operations head of BOC-Cebu.
Alcazaren told Cebu Daily News that the disposal of items inside the vans will probably start this month.
Used tires, used clothings “ukay-ukay”, dismantled car parts, and small rocks used for water purification are inside the abandoned vans.
request
To address the congestion, he sent a letter to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to ask permission to use a portion of a lot in Campaña Maritima (a lot at the back of Cebu City Hall), or the impoumding area infront the CPA to use as an extended CIP holding area, said CPA General Manager Edmund Tan.
“I acknowledge the congestion. The problem is no more space to expand the container port. All have been occupied,” he said.
“We also have a project to construct an international container port in Tayud, Liloan,” Tan added.
Tan also said that based on the study conducted by Japanese International Cooperating Agency (Jica), the ideal place to construct another international container port is in Tayud.
“To pursue this project, we will tap the Public Private Partnership (PPP) since the government has not enough funds,” Tan added.
As of the moment, they are maximizing the container yard to accommodate other container vans, said Riveral.
Riveral also cited increased importation as another cause of the congestion in the port.
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