Major business groups: No need for additional container monitoring system
MAJOR stakeholders in the maritime industry have come together to ask President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to revoke an order from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to impose an additional container monitoring system in the current ports operations.
In an open letter to the President, which came out in a major daily on Monday, a total of 17 groups, coming from vital sectors of the maritime industry, have come together to that there is no need to implement PPA-Administrative Order No. 04-2021, or the proposed additional container monitoring system.
The stakeholders alleged that the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility (ECSSSF) will “end up derailing the (Marcos) administration’s economic recovery efforts”.
“The implementation of the TOP-CRMS/ECSSSF has consistently and vehemently opposed by various stakeholders since the first public consultation held on June 15, 2021,” the group said in its open letter published in a major daily.
Among those who signed the open letter were Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry In. (PCCI) President George T. Barcelon, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), and President Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, and Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PHILEXPORT).
Also signing the open letter to the President were the heads of the Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines (SCMAP), Philippine Association of Meat Processors In. (PAMPI), Philippine Multimodal Transport and Logistics Association Inc. (PMTLAI), Alliance of Truck Owners and Organizations (ACTOO), Alliance of Container Yard Operators of the Philippines (ACYOP), Association of International Shipping Lines In. (AISL), Association of Off-Dock CFS Operators of the Philippines (ACOP), Custom Brokers Federation of the Philippines (CBFP), Pasig Port Users United, Philippine Liner Shipping Association (PLSA), Philippine Ship Agents’ Association (PSAA), Port Users Confederation of the Philippines (PUCP), Practicing Customs Brokers Association of the Philippines (PCBAP), and the United Port Users Confederation of the Philippines (UPC).
The group also sent copies of the open letter to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Speaker Martin Romualdez, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Filemon Ruiz, and House Committee on Transportation Chairperson Rep. Romeo Acop.
The group underscored that its estimates show that the implementation of AO 04-2021 will “result in an almost 50% increase in the logistics cost of imported goods”.
