Unloading of imported rice delayed

UNLOADING of a shipment of 800,000 bags of rice from Vietnam has been delayed because of the lack of berthing space at the Cebu International Port (CIP).

As of yesterday, National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Renan B. Dalisay said about 240,000 bags valued at P122 million have yet to be unloaded.

The shipment, which arrived at the CIP aboard five vessels last month, is part of the 500,000 metric tons of rice that government is expecting this quarter.

The Inter-agency Food Security Committee (FSC) last year allowed the NFA to import a total of 750,000 metric tons of rice to beef up buffer stock in preparation for the impact of El Niño. Dalisay said 250,000 metric tons were delivered in the last quarter of last year.

Of the five vessels that arrived in Cebu last month, two have finished unloading.

“The third ship will finish unloading (today). Two more ships left with 120,000 bags each. Unloading takes about seven days, or more if it rains,” Dalisay told Cebu Daily News.

Yusop Uckung, deputy manager of the Cebu Port Authority, said the remaining vessels are anchored in the waters of Talisay City.

He said the international port can accommodate only two vessels because a portion has been used for domestic operations while the northern portion is heavily silted and could not be used.

“Docking areas are first-come, first-served. We have allocated to them berthing spaces in Pier 2, but they (NFA) refused for security reasons,” Uckung said.

Dalisay said the shipment is to be pre-positioned in the Visayas, especially Eastern Visayas.

“We’re not too worried about the delay in the unloading because Cebu has a lot of warehouses and enough buffer stock. But Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) is most affected,” although it still has an inventory equivalent to 20 days, he said.