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NAVIGATOR'S
Diary |
DOTC prioritizes maritime development
THE Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)
announced that it will prioritize the development and safety of the water
transport sector to help lower the cost of goods. In a report to President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the Strong
Republic Nautical Highway program will be implemented with the full cooperation
of the private sector.
Assistant Secretary for Special Projects Robert Castañares
said the DOTC had already started adopting new regulations and programs
to cut transport costs.
The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), according to
Castañares, is now in process of “unbundling” cargo handling costs
by revising the Uniform Chart of Accounts in order to bring down the costs
of transporting goods, especially from the rural areas to the cities.
The Philippine Port Authority (PPA) has opened Harbor
Center (HCPTI) and Eva Macapagal Passenger Terminal (Asian Terminal Inc.)
to accommodate domestic shipping operations in competition with North
Harbor, Castañares declared.
The PPA also issued Memorandum Order No. 41-2002 adopting
a universal government share of 10 percent for domestic cargoes and 20
percent to foreign cargoes from the revenue of cargo handling operators
nationwide.
The government share previously varied between 12 to 30
percent of domestic cargoes and 21 to 25 percent of foreign cargoes, the
assistant secretary explained.
Further, Castañares continued, the PPA has also
suspended the planned P61 increase in port charges scheduled to take effect
last February 25. Instead, PPA has initiated reduction of domestic dockage
fees to one-half for domestic ships calling at officially registered private
ports.
Mendoza expressed confidence that these measures would
effectively contribute to the lowering of the costs of essential commodities
to the ultimate consumers, thus
sbenefiting the poor masses of the population in accordance
with President Arroyo’s poverty alleviation program.
PPA tightens ports security
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA)
has announced that it is implementing an integrated system to ports nationwide.
The agency said it is coordinating with the Philippine National Police
to secure the ports and a composite security task force had been formed
in all ports nationwide.
Agents from the PPA, PNP, Philippine
Coast Guard, Bureau of Customs, Maritime Industry Authority, the military
and local government units composed the task force with the port manager
as head.
PPA said that is requiring all employees
of PPA, MARINA, BOC, and all ports service providers to undergo a bomb
awareness drill and seminar.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation
and Communications-Water Transport Group also reported that it will implement
a stricter port and security procedure to all Philippine-flagged ships
and local ports in line with Chapter 11 of the safety of life at sea (SOLAR)
rules.
The international code on safety
and port security (ICSPS), formulated by the International Maritime Organization
(IMO), is set to be enforced to all international-going vessels in July
2004.
MARINA revenues drop
THE Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) reported a 23
percent drop in revenues last year from P178 million in 2001 to P137 million.
The downslide in revenues resulted from the reduction in fees collected
by the agency due to pro-poor policy for small vessel operators.
MARINA also reported a 14 percent cut in the issuance
of seafarer identification and records book (SIRB) after the number of
accredited maritime schools were slashed from 118 to 76 as of June last
year, resulting into lower turnout of graduates in both Bachelor of Science
in Marine Transportation and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering.
Meanwhile, MARINA is looking into other ways to enhance
revenue generation to finance its operations. One of the option MARINA
is looking at is to change the basis for the supervision fees levied upon
domestic shipping companies from per paid up capital to gross revenue ton.
At the moment, MARINA is imposing 20 to 60 centavo supervision
fee per P100 paid up capital. Domestic liners are currently paying 20 centavos
per P100 paid up capital to MARINA, a much lesser rate than the required
60-centavo per P100 paid up capital after the previous administration allowed
MARINA to reduce the fees. It will conduct consultation meeting with ship
owners on the new fees.
Ro-ro highway program, a flop?
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) disclosed that only
58 percent or 37 out of the 63 roll-on-roll-off (ro-ro) capable ports in
the country are served by appropriate ro-ro vessel. The agency added despite
the fact that 63 ports or 55 percent of the 114 ports in the PPA ports
systems have at least one ro-ro ramp, demand is weak. Moreover, 42 percent
or 26 ports which have ro-ro ramps don’t have any ro-ro ships serving them.
No ro-ro ships ply the Dapitan- Dumaguete and Capalapan-Balanacan routes
since there is no demand for this type of service.
The ro-ro highway being hyped up by the administration
has long existed and unused waiting for ferries to dock. The PPA wryly
said that for the ro-ro system to be viable there has got to be a demand
for it. As it is demand is limited.
The PPA has already developed ports, which interconnects
the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao islands via the eastern seaboard, western
seaboard, Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan or MIMAROPA, connection and
trans- Visayas systems. The land-ferry-land trucking service being hyped
up was a lobby by the US-funded group calling for nationwide ports modernization.
The RRTS, newly-dusted but old program is a network of
terminals all over the country. The concept is fancifully called as a nautical
highway where ro-ro vessels will link the identified islands. The RRTS
is one of the components of the Sustainable Logistics Development Program
that aims of reducing cargo handling costs.
Under the implementing rules and regulations for the RRTS,
the port authorities will waive the share of revenues of terminal operators
and will let go of’ extraneous charges such as arrastre, or other cargo
handling costs.
More investors venture into shipping
MORE investors are venturing into shipping with new players
up five percent from 585 in 2001 to 617 year. According to the Maritime
Industry Authority (MARINA), new players were encouraged to venture into
shipping due to the abundance of cheaper second-hand vessels available
in the market.
There were 121 vessels that were acquired last year, up
21 percent from 100 in 2001. Out of the 121 new buys, 78 were important,
22 were bareboat chartered and 21 were locally made. Bareboat chartering
went up by 47 percent from 15. Meanwhile, number of locally made vessels
almost doubled, increasing by 91 percent from 11.
Local construction registered a hefty growth mainly due
to the stable demand for boats made by Tsuneishi Heavy Industries that
exported a number of vessels.
At present, MARINA said that ship owning is a very expensive
business option for the domestic industry. It also noted that the capital
cost involved in buying a vessel is so high that most prefer boat chartering.
Government support in terms of incentives, or affordable financing to Filipino
ship owners is lacking. While the overseas shipping sector enjoys a relatively
tax-free environment, the domestic shipping is being taxed heavily.
“Aside from leveling the playing field with respect to
incentives, the domestic shipping sector must be properly deregulated,
government regulatory requirements streamlined, trading practice improved
to make the sector globally competitive,” MARINA said.
“Access to affordable financing should be given. Over
local ship owners due to not have access to alternative sourcing of funding
like foreign loans which offer lower interest rate than commercial banks
because of our antiquated legal regime,” MARINA further noted.
Maritime security training
THE Sharp Maritime Security Training Services Inc. (SMSTSI),
the youngest member of the C.F. Sharp Group of Companies, is opening its
doors to train shipboard personnel on Ship Security and Maritime Security
Awareness.
SMSTSI is the only security training provider in the Philippines
duly authorized by the world-renowned Maritime Institute of Technology
& Graduate Studies (MITAGS) of Maryland, USA, to conduct the course
in compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Code (ISPS
Code), guidance for training set forth in the ISPS Code Part A Sections
13.1 and 13.2, and Part B Sections 13.1 and 13.2. These new security regulations
will come into full force on July 01, 2004.
Trainings will accommodate participants on a first come,
first serve basis and will be conducted in Room 216 BF Condominium Bldg.,
A. Soriano Ave. cor. Solana St., Intramuros, Manila. For inquiries and
reservations, you may call at Tel. Nos. 5281727/ 5281897 and look for Joanne
Bernarte.
“At SMSTSI, your seafarers are trained to internationally
accepted practices and standards.”
Tankers told to buy spill insurance
THE Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) has ordered all
tankers and oil-carrying barges plying local waters to buy pollution insurance.
The order covers all vessels carrying more than, 2,000 tons of “persistent”
oil in bulk. Persistent oil refers to oils which, due to their chemical
composition, are slow to disperse when they spill. These include crude
oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel and lubricating oil.
MARINA said that acceptable financial securities are insurance
cover, bank quarantine, certificate delivered by an international compensation
fund and other similar securities. The agency noted that issuance of CLC
certificate is subject to penalties including fees suspension or convenience,
provisional authority and special permit.
Submission of any false statement or fraudulent document
for issuance of CLC certificate carries a P100,000 penalty.
Insurance cover for unlisted
passengers withdrawn
THE Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) repealed a recent
order calling for insurance cover for unlisted passengers. Early this month,
the agency said that ship owners will have to shell out P100,000 for every
victim of ship mishap even if the passenger is unmanifested. MARINA’s reasoning
then is that shipowners will be forced to stop the practice of allowing
unticketed passage.
In a change of heart, MARINA held a special board meeting
to annul its directive granting full payment of P100,000 even to unmanifested
passengers. A source said that the revocation of the previous order came
from the instruction of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
This time, Marina is convinced that the grant of full
indemnity will not prevent unticketed passengers onboard ships. However,
MARINA pointed out that it would only put a premium on unmanifested passengers.
It urged all shipping companies to strictly imposed a “no ticket, no boarding”
policy to minimize risk of sea accidents caused by overloading.
“All passenger must be manifested to insure that the passenger
whether ticketed, unticketed, minor (regardless of age), paying, non-paying,
holding discounted or complementary tickets do not exceed the maximum authorized
passenger capacity of all vessels,” the agency said.
More companies engage in ship
building, repair
THE number of firms in the shipbuilding ship repair (SBSR)
industry rose by 41 percent during the first semester of the year, statistics
compiled by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) showed. The number
of companies registered grew from 81 in 2002 to 114 this year. The growth
was achieved through an intensified campaign for delinquent SBSR enterprises
to register or renew their expired licenses, the agency noted.
The number of SBSR companies inspected, however, dropped
2.73 percent from 110 companies to 107 during the January to June period
due to non-compliance of entities subject to inspection.
Meantime, dry-docking activities was sluggish during the
first half of the year. The slow growth in the sector can be attributed
to the depressed economy which has adversely affected businesses, including
investments on ship maintenance, build and repair. |
