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A WORLD
Bank report which indicated that the Philippines has the
highest trading cost in Asia is “grossly unfair and
misleading,” according to a group of foreign shipping
companies serving the nation’s trade route.
In a
statement, the Association of International Shipping
Lines (AISL) said that the World Bank study “needs to be
reexamined,” asserting that a large part of the fees
collected by international operators “do not actually go
to the lines.”
The
World Bank report said that shipping costs in the
Philippines are expensive because of the high- fees
charged by foreign shipping operators. It said that
expenses related to processing twenty-foot metal
containers were at $1,336 in the Philippines, $335 in
China, $382 in Singapore and $848 in Thailand.
“The
domestic transshipment cost of $500, considered as the
most expensive component of the port and terminal
handling costs which total $994 cannot be considered as
a charge by foreign lines,” the AISL said in a
statement.
Since
non-Filipino carriers are disallowed from transporting
goods between two domestic ports, foreign liners not
only have to contract the services of local companies
for the trip’s domestic voyage, they also pay for
freight expenses and other incidental charges.
“The
$500 paid by shippers to the foreign lines is simply a
cost recovery and the latter do not gain any benefit
from it,” the group said, adding that the World Bank’s
estimates on
Thailand,
Singapore and China failed to consider expenses involved
in transporting the goods from one Philippine port to
another. “Deducting the domestic transshipment cost of
$500 from the World Bank figure of $1,336, total trading
cost in the Philippines will be $836, compared to
Thailand’s $848.”
The same
statement also said various factors should also be
considered in making shipping cost estimates between
Manila and the rest of the world.
Besides
saying that Philippine shippers need to compete for
space on foreign vessels and therefore have to pay
market rates, the group said that based on a March 2007
survey, “the rate for a 40-foot container from Manila
and Cebu to Japan is lower compared to Bangkok,
Singapore and Jakarta.
It added
that shipping line tariffs are influenced by port
tariffs, which are regulated by the government.
“Foreign
lines cannot simply absorb these increases but have to
pass it on to importers/exporters,” the group said.
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