50% surge in import cost feared from port scheme

The plan of the Philippine Port Authority (PPA) to implement a new container tracking and monitoring system would jack up importation cost by 50 percent, worsening inflation in the country, 17 business and trade groups warned.

Association of International Shipping Lines Inc. president Patrick Ronas said the PPA’s Administrative Order No. 04-2021 had failed to consider that Filipino consumers would be the ones ultimately affected by the impact of the planned system.

“The policy will result in an astronomical increase in the prices of basic food and other commodities,” Ronas said in a recent press conference in Pasay city, expressing the collective sentiment of the groups present during the event.

Ronas said they estimated that the direct financial cost arising from the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry Monitoring System and the Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility would result in an almost 50-percent increase in the cost of importing goods. These, he said, include additional insurance fees, transaction fees and trucking fees required under the PPA planned system.

“In real terms, this will lead to a staggering additional annual import cost estimate of at least P35 billion,” he said further.

Collective concern

The other groups opposing the planned regulation included Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Meat Processors, Philippine Multimodal Transport and Logistics Association, Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations and Alliance of Container Yard Operators of the Philippines.

Also included are the Association of International Shipping Lines, Association of Off-Dock CFS Operators of the Philippines, Customs Brokers Federation of the Philippines, Pasig Port Users United, the Philippine Liner Shipping Association, Philippine Ship Agents Association, Port Users Confederation of the Philippines, Practicing Customs Brokers Association of the Philippines and United Portusers Confederation of the Philippines.

On the sidelines of the press conference, Ronas told the Inquirer that they would be forced to increase the prices of their goods to stay afloat if the PPA’s container monitoring system would push through.

“We have no choice. It’s either that or we stop operations, which we can’t do since that will crash the economy,” Ronas said.

Likewise, Ronas warned that the measure could lead to a repeat of the 2014 port congestion fiasco, which had led to losses amounting to at least P43.85 billion, according to the state-owned think tank Philippine Institute of Development Studies. INQ