Palace: Manila port decongested in 2 weeks; cargo moving to Subic

MANILA, Philippines–With “drastic steps” already under way, the government will finally be able to decongest the Port of Manila in two weeks, a Malacañang official said on Wednesday.

But this would require the cooperation of truckers and importers to move some 16,000 containers out of the port, said Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.

“We’ve computed it. We know exactly what volume of cargo needs to be moved out,” he told reporters.

“And if only we [could] move out the same volume of containers or TEUs [20-foot equivalent units] on a Saturday night, on a Sunday, and on Monday morning, in two weekends we will be able to declog the ports,” he said.

Almendras said the government needs to free up the Manila port “in anticipation of the increased volume of imports coming in in the last three months of the year.”

“We’ve made a decision that it’s time to take some really, a bit more drastic steps,” he said.

Starting Sept. 8, the government will start moving unclaimed containers to the port of Subic, Zambales province. Many of these unclaimed cargoes have been kept in the Manila port for 30 to 90 days, Almendras said.

“Ports were not designed to be your warehouse or your storage facility,” he said, addressing the importers and truckers.

“We need to clear it out because we need to move more goods into the country,” Almendras said.

By Oct. 1, he said owners of unclaimed containers would be fined P5,000 for each day that the shipments would remain in the Manila port.

As a “special offer,” the government will implement a two-week “special privilege window” allowing truckers to go beyond the 24-hour express lanes to complete their deliveries.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will be issuing a “special tag and a special permit” to allow trucks to take the “last mile.”

“For the next two weeks, starting on Monday, Sept. 8, until Sept. 22, there will be trucks that will be exempted from that restriction, meaning 24/7 they can make the trip along the 24-hour express truck lanes and the ‘last mile,’” he said.

Almendras said the problem of port congestion could not be blamed on a single factor.

He said the Manila government’s truck ban had “stifled the flow” of cargo out of the port. But he acknowledged the concerns of the local government over parking congestion, as the trucks “lining up to go inside the port” were reportedly “creating havoc.”

Almendras said the problem had been addressed and the focus had now shifted to decongesting the port by moving cargo to Subic and fining delinquent importers and truckers.

He said the government was studying the idea of providing incentives to container owners to encourage them to also use the ports of Subic and Batangas province, not just that of Manila.