Shipyards to pay more for steel. The headquarters of Nippon Steel Corp. stands in Tokyo, Japan in this file photo. The company, together with JFE Steel Corp., aim to charge South Korean shipbuilders about 23 percent more for steel plate because of higher material costs, the Seoul Economic Daily said, citing unnamed industry officials. The Japanese steelmakers want to raise prices to about $800 per ton in the six months ending September, compared with $650 in the half-year ending March, the Korean-language newspaper said. The two sides began talks last week, it added. --Bloomberg

THE Manila North Harbor has fallen way below international safety standards, endangering more than one million passengers and users of one of the Philippines’ oldest terminals, a port agency said Tuesday.

In a January 2008 report submitted to the Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC), the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said that most of its facilities—used by nearly one-and-a-half million passengers annually—are already more than 50 years old.

Despite having surpassed its useful economic life, the North Harbor continues to serve the Metro Manila area and provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon. It can accommodate all types of interisland vessels and has six main piers catering to coastwise cargo and passenger ships.

“Expectedly, structural soundness and operational safety is now on the critical stage. Operational efficiency at this port is way below international standards,” PPA said in its report submitted to DOTC undersecretary Maria Elena Bautista.

But instead of identifying an initiative to remedy the situation, the port body only said that it still intended to modernize the 26-hectare facility by privatizing its cargo-handling operations, which covers construction of a new- passenger terminal building. However, efforts to transfer the facility’s management to a private operator have been unsuccessful.

In August, Harbour Centre, the lone bidder for the privatization, with its joint venture partner Metro Pacific Investments Corp., contested a PPA board decision which indicated that the bidding should at least have two eligible bidders. The port body, which earlier disqualified two other bidders, halted the bidding procedure indefinitely, until the court releases a decision.

Late last year, the PPA has already asked the Manila Regional Trial Court to release a decision regarding the case since further delay may endanger the lives of the people working in the facility.

Meanwhile, in an unsolicited proposal, the Philippine Inter-Island Shipping Association suggested that the PPA replicate a Singaporean strategy by creating another state agency that will handle North Harbor’s development. It said that the new state-led company could get seed money from aid agencies such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Asian Development Bank.

The measure can also be called privatization since the private sector can come in once the new firm becomes public, or be listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange, or through equity.

Manila North Harbor endangers passengers

THE Manila North Harbor has fallen way below international safety standards, endangering more than one million passengers and users of one of the Philippines’ oldest terminals, a port agency said Tuesday.

HONG KONG—STX Shipbuilding Co., the first South Korean company to build vessels in China, and two affiliates of the STX Group will invest $150 million to build a yard in Vietnam to build offshore rigs and platforms.

JAPAN and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are helping prepare an investment project that will ease the flow of goods, services and people across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal to promote economic cooperation and integration among the four- member countries of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (Sasec).