Gov’t finds ways to hasten unloading of Vietnam rice
This part of the sea fronting the Malacanang sa Sugbo building is being eyed by Cebu Ports Authority general manager Edmund Tan as the proposed berthing area for the 5 foreign cargo vessels carrying sacks of imported rice that cannot dock at the Cebu International Port due to its limited space. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
The National Food Authority (NFA) and Cebu Port Authority (CPA) have identified measures to expedite the unloading of some 240,000 sacks of Vietnamrice from two vessels that have been unable to dock because of the lack of berthing space at the Cebu International Port.
Vice Admiral Edmund Tan, general manager, said they have offered NFA another berthing space at the Malacañang sa Sugbo near Pier 1. This will be available by next week.
“I was thinking of using the back of Malacañang as berthing area for one of the vessels of the National Food Authority,” he told reporters at the Capitol yesterday.
Tan said he already wrote to the Office of the President asking for permission to use the Malacañang sa Sugbo berthing space. There has been no reply yet.
“I’m willing to risk having a vessel dock there (even without permission). Even if they don’t respond, at least I already told them about it,” he said.
The CPA has assigned only one berthing space at the Cebu International Port to the NFA, allowing vessels to dock and unload one at a time. This has caused a delay in the unloading of the shipment.
NFA Administrator Renan B. Dalisay, in a separate phone interview, said that “if it’s urgent,” CPA agreed to assign another berthing space to NFA as soon as it’s vacated.
“We just have to notify them within 36 hours if it’s urgent. Then, isi-singit nila kami,” he said.
Three of the five vessels from Vietnam were supposed to have finished unloading as of yesterday, Dalisay said.
He said two more vessels have yet to unload, each carrying 120,000 bags or 6,000 metric tons of rice. The remaining 12,000 metric tons are valued at P122 million.
“We had this (shipment) sent to Cebu because Cebu is a hub. These will be pre-positioned in key areas in the Visayas in preparation for El Niño,” Dalisay said.
The shipment is part of the 500,000 metric tons of rice that government expected to be delivered this quarter as part of the 750,000 metric tons of rice that NFA was allowed to import last year to beef up buffer stock in anticipation of the El Niño phenomenon. NFA already took delivery of 250,000 metric tons in the last quarter of last year.
Nestor Rey Alcoseba, NFA 7 assistant regional director, said Central and Eastern Visayas regions were allotted 157,900 metric tons, or nearly 3.2 million bags that will all be unloaded in Cebu.
Central Visayas will get 104,000 metric tons while Eastern Visayas was allotted 53,900 metric tons.
Alcoseba said a total of 12 vessels have arrived in Cebu since November last year. Seven have finished unloading while the five vessels from Vietnam, which arrived last month yet, have been unable to dock and were being anchored in the waters off Talisay City.
The vessels are: Vina Ship Ocean with 214,000 bags; Truong Minh Glory with 135,000 bags, Thanh Cong with 130,000 bags, My An with 151,000 bags and Tan Binh with 190,000 bags.
Yusop Uckung, deputy manager of CPA, said they earlier offered NFA a berthing space at Pier 2, but the grains authority declined due to security reasons.
Alcoseba said pilferage is rampant in Pier 2. One vessel almost had an accident in the area, he added.
Tan, for his part, said CPA will install a cyclone-wire tent to protect the goods once these are unloaded at the back of the Malacañang sa Sugbo.
Aside from security guards hired by the Office of the President, Tan said nobody is in the area while the building has been condemned.
Uckung earlier said the international port can accommodate only two vessels at a time because a portion has been set aside for domestic use while the northern portion is silted.
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