SIMIC

TEN Filipino off-terminal container-storage yard operators have accused the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) of trying to put smaller players out of business by imposing a costly container tracking system, reports the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The joint statement was issued by Sea Container Depot Corp, TBS Container Depot, Inland Container Depot, Brightpoint Logistics Corp., E-Safe Container Depot, Golden Box Container, Movers and Managers Container Depot, TMS Container Depot, Oceanbox Container Depot and NTC Container Depot.
"We are deeply concerned about the devastating impact on small industry players of the Trusted Operator Programme-Container Registry Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility (ECSSSF) that the Philippine Ports Authority is planning," the group said in a statement.
"We believe the policy is counter-productive and detrimental to the industry and to the country as a whole," they said.
The 10 said the staging areas in the PPA's plan would render their facilities useless and unprofitable, leading to their closure and the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Two staging areas in the provinces of Bulacan and Laguna where empty containers will stay while awaiting re-repositioning was a threat to their operations.
There was no reason to put up those staging areas so far from port area to address long queuing time of trucks in container groups, they added, saying that such issues were already addressed under their current truck appointments system.
"There is no congestion and heavy queuing of trucks at our container yards. So, they cannot and should not use that to justify the necessity for the staging areas 50 to 100 kilometres away from the country's main port," the group said.