Senate to probe port congestion

MANILA, Philippines - Concerned about the adverse impact of the congestion at two of the major ports in Metro Manila, the Senate is set to conduct an inquiry in order to find possible solutions to what could be a potential crisis.

Senators Francis Escudero and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV filed separate resolutions calling for the investigation into the port congestion at the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

“This is already a nagging issue that, if left unabated, would hurt the gains of the country’s economy. It will hurt us bad since there is already that glaring truth triggering an economic crisis,” Escudero said.

The city of Manila recently imposed a daytime truck ban to address the traffic jams in the city.

After this was implemented, empty container vans owned by shipping lines occupied 50 percent of the container yards, which caused the congestion in the ports.

This led to even more problems because many local and international vessels were unable to dock and unload their cargo in the MICP and the Port of Manila, prompting major shipping lines to boycott the city ports due to lack of berthing spaces.

“It is time for the Senate to step in to abate this looming crisis. It is already causing us economic backlash at costs we cannot afford. Look at the spoilage of perishable goods, the unavailability of raw materials, business losses in the import and export industries and idle factories. These are more than enough to clog the wheels of our economic engine,” Escudero said.

He said that the country cannot afford these import problems since a lot of the consumer goods and supplies are brought in from abroad.

Escudero said that even exporters from Cebu are also complaining about the same problem of port congestion in the Cebu International Port (CIP) that reportedly caused traders around $15,000 per shipment delay.