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STATE-OWNED Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said
exporters saved millions of pesos when the government
reduced wharfage fees in a move to cushion the impact of
the continued weakening of the greenback against the
peso.
Citing
data it gathered from reports of its port managers, the
PPA said exporters saved some P26.8 million in five
months ending September 20.
Wharfage
dues have been reduced since April 20 from P259.70 to
P20 per 20-footer container and from P391.05 to P40 per
40-footer container.
The
reduced rates should have ended on July 20. Strong lobby
from exporters for an extension prompted the PPA to
extend the reduction from August 13 to December 31, as
stated in Memorandum Order 26-2007.
Exporter
groups and government’s trade and industry officials
earlier batted for the suspension of the said fee for at
least six months. However, the PPA said it cannot
acquiesce to the request as its charter only allows
either to increase or to decrease the rate.
Wharfage
fee is the amount assessed against cargoes for the use
of the sea, wharves, piers or any other port facility.
The PPA
is only implementing the reduced rates for export goods,
and not for imports. The state firm, which both
regulates and owns more than a hundred port facilities
in the country, also issued terms for the implementation
of the reduced rates for those locators of the economic
zones.
Wharfage
fees remain the single biggest source of income for the
PPA. The second-biggest source is the concession fees
from the cargo operators, such as International
Container Terminal Services Inc. for use of the Manila
International Container Terminal, and Asian Terminals
Inc. for the Manila South Harbor.
According to PPA computations, wharfage fees contribute
about P240 million in earnings to the state firm per
year, or about P20 million a month.
This
year, the PPA’s net income for the year is likely to
fall as a result of the reduction of the rates. The
decline is also exacerbated by the drop in cargo volumes
during the most part of the first semester.
PPA
assistant general manager for finance Aida P. Dizon
earlier said they have no plans of introducing another
measure to replace its lost revenues for the said
reduction of rates.
The PPA
has been under pressure during the past few months after
government agencies such as the Department of Trade and
Industry and the National Economic and Development
Authority have been blaming the state firm for the
country’s high cost of shipping.
The PPA
then blamed the Association of International Shipping
Lines, the umbrella organization of foreign carriers,
for implementing various fees which were all placed
under the “miscellaneous charges.” These include the
terminal-handling charge, or THC, bank guarantee fee
documentation fee, detention charge, container deposit,
washing and insurance.
The PPA
said, in its own analysis, that the charges attributable
to the PPA do not even exceed 5 percent of the total
transport cost, and most of the items listed under “port
charges” are actually nonport charges and refer to those
being collected by shipping lines, terminal operators
and transport component in the delivery of cargoes to
and from the country. |
