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THE
Maritime Industry Authority, or Marina, is set to take
over the supervision of international shipping lines and
sea freight forwarders, a job long handled by the
Philippine Shippers’ Bureau (PSB).
Marina
administrator Vicente Suazo Jr. said his agency and PSB
have put in place a mutual understanding on the transfer
of the monitoring and supervisory powers. They are,
however, still ironing out details on how to go about
the new arrangement.
President Arroyo has ordered the transfer of the
supervision and monitoring functions from PSB—an agency
under the Department of Trade and Industry—to Marina as
the agency to supervise foreign and international
shipping lines.
“It’s a
done deal. We are just awaiting the order from the
Office of the President formally transferring the powers
from PSB to my agency,” Suazo said.
“We also
want to have a smooth flow to effect the transfer of
powers,” he added.
The PSB
supervises international shipping lines through their
agents, representatives and local branches.
Once the
PSB powers are transferred to
Marina,
the rate-setting mechanism will be limited to local
freight since it may violate some laws, such as the
constitutional rights to enter freely into contracts,
considering this concerns foreign shipping lines.
A
memorandum of agreement between PSB and Marina is now
being drafted, stipulating a transition period for the
transfer of supervisory functions over the sea freight
industry, including the details of personnel movements
and documents related to the registration, accreditation
of nonvessel-operating common carriers, freight
forwarders, cargo consolidators and break-bulk agents.
Early
this year, business groups such as the Port Users
Confederation and the Philippine International
Seafreight Forwarders Association have pushed for the
transfer of such powers from PSB to
Marina.
In a
letter to the Department of Transportation and
Communications (DOTC), the sea freight industry groups
said the
Marina
is the “most appropriate” government body to regulate
and oversee sea freight forwarders.
They
also want to place under one department both the air and
sea freight-forwarding industry.
Marina
is the country’s shipping regulator, but its powers are
limited and its role obscures in relation to the
industry.
Some of
its functions were either delegated to other agencies,
such as safety at seas to the Philippine Coast Guard or
were taken over by other agencies, such as the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on matters
concerning Filipino seafarers.
During
the past months, the DOTC has initiated a word war
between labor officials after Transport Undersecretary
Maria Elena Bautista questioned the role of the Maritime
Training Council, which is headed by the DOLE and mainly
accredits training centers for seafarers.
Bautista
has been candid on her moves to wrest control of the
country’s maritime-administration functions from other
agencies to Marina. |
