Palace: Manila port decongested, operations back to normal

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Monday claimed that the operations in the Port of Manila have “completely normalized” and that congestion has been resolved.

In a statement, Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras said that during the past three weeks, ships docked in the Manila port have been accommodated.

“Over the past three weeks, the ships with berthing schedules were accommodated accordingly. For ships that arrive unscheduled, they were able to dock within 24 to 60 hours from arrival. Since November 2014, more cargo has been moved at a faster rate than prior to the congestion. By February 2015, the benefits of a fully-decongested port is in place,” Almendras said.

The Palace executive said that decongesting the port was a “long process” and was complicated with various factors like “ship scheduling, loaded and empty container handling, and the truck ban hours.”

Almendras said that some events which transpired by the last quarter of 2014 and early 2015 also affected the full implementation of Manila port decongestion.

“Although most of the solutions were implemented early in the last quarter of 2014, the sheer volume of the backlog needed several months to be resolved. The long Christmas holidays, Typhoon “Amang”, the feast of the Black Nazarene and the Pope’s visit, all constricted the movements and extended the period of resolution,” he said.

He also cited the implementation of the Metro Manila Development Authority and local government units of “enhanced” truck ban hours and routes which eased the flow of cargo to and from the port.

The port congestion started February last year when the City of Manila imposed a “truck ban” through City Ordinance No. 8336, banning eight-wheeler trucks with a gross vehicle weight of at least 4,500 kilograms in Manila’s roads from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The truck ban was subsequently lifted after seven months in September after bowing to the wishes of Malacañang.

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