THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is crafting new policies to streamline procedures to prevent importers from using ports for storage.
“We are coordinating with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to ensure that importers do not delay filing their importation entries. We are gradually reviewing our processes within the PPA and the BOC,” PPA General Manager Jay Santiago said on Sunday, October 6.
“Philippine ports under the supervision of the PPA are designed not as storage areas for importers and other users as these are mainly meant to move cargo,” he said.
Santiago said PPA has observed that some importers wait for about a month to file import entries for cargo despite these goods already unloaded in the ports.
The filing of entry signals the start of processing at the BOC.
“Some importers delay the filing of the import entry since they can save on storage cost (at the ports) compared to if they store goods in private warehouses. They pay only P700 a day (per container). For a month, that is P21,000 which is a small amount compared to the value of the shipment,” the PPA chief.
Importers have 30 days to pull out their cargo from the time these are cleared by the BOC, after which these are deemed condemned.
Santiago said the PPA has turned over to the Department of Agriculture (DA) the list of 20 consignees who failed to pull out over 500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of shipments of rice and other agricultural products at the Manila ports as of September 30.
He said the PPA, in a letter dated October 1, 2024, provided Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel the list of consignees on an inventory of pork, chicken, and onion shipments that remain unclaimed at the ports even after BOC has cleared the shipments as well as those which have exceeded the 30-day dwell time.
Santiago said the PPA has no jurisdiction over the consignees as its mandate is strictly focused on port management.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the expected demand surge during the Christmas season, the PPA chief said the ports authority has intensified its monitoring of pork, chicken, and onion inventories.
The agency provided the DA with a detailed inventory of these shipments at the Manila ports as of September 30 which include 135 TEUs of pork shipments, 101 TEUs of chicken, and 24 TEUs of onions. (GMA Integrated News)
