Importers, truckers warn of price spikes due to Nazareno, papal visit holidays

The public may see another round of price hikes in commodities due to worsening situation in the Manila ports from the Christmas holidays and the upcoming Nazareno and papal visit holidays, industry stakeholders said Thursday.

 

The situation in the main seaports have already progressed after the lifting of the daytime truck ban in the City of Manila last September, Ernesto Ordoñez, co-chair of the Private Sector Technical Working Group (PC-MWG) on port congestion, told reporters in a briefing in Makati City.

 

But after the Christmas and New Year break, he said the utilization rate in Asian Terminals Inc.'s South Harbor went over 100 percent starting January.

 

"If companies and government institutions do not cooperate in the next two weeks, we will be back to square one," he said.

 

In the same briefing, Fernando Peña of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) said importers would have to pay more charges for shipments over the holidays, which will be passed on to consumers.

 

"We are absorbing the 2,000-percent cost of fines for working during the holidays. If we have so many holidays and everything is so expensive, tataas ang presyo," he said.

 

Earlier, the City Government of Manila and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced almost all major routes to and from the Manila ports will be closed during the visit of Pope Francis from January 15 to 19.

 

On Wednesday, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) urged all cargo owners to get their cargo from the two ports ahead of the papal visit.

 

However, George Fermin of the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations (ACTOO) said it is not necessary to ban trucks from going to and from Manila ports during the entire duration of the Pope's visit.

 

"Congestion in the pier will be much higher. We are appealing to the government that we should have an alternate route to retrieve and deliver containers... so the free flow of container [will not be hampered] and ports can be decongested," he said.

 

Joselito Castillo, also a board director of ACTOO, said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) must also work on time and even overtime to speed up the release of  cargoes.

 

The Export Development Council (EDC) is also urging the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to inmediately scrap the seven redundant requirements to be submitted by importers.

 

"There is a need to improve processes in BIR. We are still meeting with BIR because it exarcerbates port congestion," Andria Hibe of EDC said during the same event. —KG, GMA News