Batangas port perks seen to continue

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) hopes to further extend until next year the grant of an incentive that cuts by half the port fees for exporting companies that use the Batangas International Port for their shipping requirements.

In an interview, Peza Director General Lilia de Lima said this was meant to encourage more companies to use the Batangas port, which is currently underutilized.

At the same time, the move to continue a 50-percent discount on the processing fees would help ease the “temporary losses” being incurred by the locators in various Peza-managed ecozones, particularly in the Calabarzon region, due to the ongoing truck ban policy being implemented by the city government of Manila.

The incentive, which gives a 50-percent reduction in the processing fees for full container load shipments to be discharged or loaded at the Batangas International Port, has already been extended until December 2014 by virtue of a memorandum circular issued earlier this year.

“We were the first to reduce our fees and then the others, like the Philippine Ports Authority, followed suit. But if needed, we will renew this again for another year so we can assist companies reeling from the truck ban,” she told the Inquirer. “These companies are facing temporary losses, and that’s why we are pushing for increased utilization of the Batangas port. Before, there was only one shipping line calling in, but now there are three. In the next two or three months, we expect another two to three shipping lines calling port in Batangas.” Amy R. Remo