Incentives to be offered to decongest Manila ports

To expedite the decongestion of the two ports in Manila, terminal operators have agreed to offer incentives to importers and exporters who will remove their cargo from the ports during weekends and on Mondays.

In a press conference, Christian Gonzalez, International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Vice President for Asia Pacific Operations, said they will soon issue guidelines on the implementation of a 20 percent rebate on arrastre or the cargo handling charge for importers and exporters who will move out their cargo from Saturday night to Monday noon.

Gonzalez said they will also waive the port fees for four days—or from day six to 10—of overstaying cargo that will be moved out from the ports during these days.

“Para doon sa mga nag-overstay, yung days equivalent to day number six to ten ang mawa-waive. Kasi iba-iba yung charge ng day six to ten, 11 to 15, 16 to 20,” Gonzalez clarified in an interview after the press conference.

“Remember, these are not discounts, these are rebates... Magbibigay kami ng credit memo sa kanila, na pwede nilang i-minus sa babayaran nila,” he added.

Gonzalez said both incentives will be handled at the same time when the importers or exporters make the payments for his cargo.

“Kasi isang point of payment lang naman yun,” he said, referring to arrastre and port fee. “So when they are going to pay doon nila makukuha [yung rebate]. In other words, kapag nagbayad yan buo, pero kapag nakita namin na nag-pull out siya ng cargo on a Sunday, may makukuha siyang rebate, or pwede niya ipa-minus sa susunod na payment niya.”

During the press conference, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said there are still about 20,000 containers that need to be moved out from the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port.

He said the government aims to move out these containers by the end of September.

Federation of Philippine Industries director Ernie Ordoñez said they expect to speed up the removal of cargo from Manila ports by five to six times with the implementation of the cash incentives.

“Ang sabi ng ilang importers and exporters sana naman we will get some form of incentives when we work during weekends, so eto na po yun, cash rebates. We are now encouraging them to take advantage of these incentives,” he said. —KBK, GMA News