SBMA to apply reduced port fees for 6 months

Subic port. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will further cut its port fees starting Oct. 1 to attract more firms to use the Subic port, which is seen to result in revenue losses of $10 million to $15 million for the agency.

These losses represented the difference between the existing harbor and berthing fees and the reduced rates that will be implemented over a six-month period, starting next month, the SBMA said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We hope to recoup the losses in the long run, as we are also doing this to encourage new lines to come over, as well as to show our appreciation to existing shipping lines that had stuck with Subic in all its lean years,” said SBMA Chair Roberto Garcia.

The rate reduction is expected to help establish Subic as an alternative port together with Batangas. This is seen to help ease the congestion at the Port of Manila.

According to Garcia, the SBMA will reduce the harbor fee at Subic’s new container terminal (NCT) to $0.008 per gross register tonnage (GRT) from the current $0.046 per GRT. The berthing fee will also be reduced to only $0.004 per GRT a day, from the current $0.0345 per GRT a day.

“In the case of Subic, the new harbor fee will be 83 percent lower than the regular rates, while the new berthing fee will be 88 percent lower,” Garcia added.

These reduced fees, which will be applied for six months starting Oct. 1, will be implemented at the ports of Subic and Batangas, which were both declared extensions of the Port of Manila under Executive Order 172.

Following the six-month period, the rates for both the Subic and Batangas extension ports will increase to $0.041 for the harbor fees and $0.02 for berthing fees.

These fees, however, “will still be lower than the regular rates today,” Garcia said.

The SBMA official clarified that the reduced rates would apply only at Subic’s new container terminal (NCT) 1 and 2.