Tiziana Celine Piatos

@tribunephl_tiz

The Bureau of Customs has collected over P292 million from public auctions of overstaying
cargoes such as seized, forfeited, or abandoned containers for 2022.

Based on the preliminary report released by BOC last January 2023, BOC said selling these
cargoes would increase government money and frees up space at the ports to facilitate trade more
effectively.

The move is in accordance with Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz's order to all ports to dispose
of all forfeited and abandoned items as quickly as possible using the methods permitted by the
Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

Asian Terminals Inc., Association of International Shipping Lines, and BOC-Port of Manila
continuously implement the Empty Loadout Shipping Agreement.

Regardless of which shipping company held the empty containers, ships docked at Manila South
Harbor will fill them per the ELSA.

Government’s solution to solve port congestion

Meanwhile, BOC and the Philippine Ports Authority in 2017 "resolved" their disagreements
regarding how the proposed provisions on the jurisdiction over container yards and the
facilitation of permits within the South Harbour and the Manila International Container Port
should be interpreted.

“The PPA and BOC have discussed each others’ requirements and are working together to
address the need of Customs for an area where they can secure seized and abandoned cargoes,
among other concerns. The free-flowing of containers in and out of the port is essential to
prevent another port congestion,” explained Fernando Perez, the Transportation Assistant
Secretary for Maritime at that time.

The problem was caused by a number of clauses in a certain Customs Administrative Order that
allowed BOC to set up temporary storage for overdue and abandoned cargoes inside container
port terminals that are governed by the PPA.

PPA also released Administrative Order No. 04-2021 almost two years ago to help solve port
congestion, saying that foreign containers must register with the government agency's Trusted
Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System.

The TOP-CRMS, according to PPA assistant general manager for finance and administration
Elmer Nonnatus Cadano, participates in the port authority's efforts to digitalize processes and
aims to make further port operations efficient and prevent port congestion.
The system also contributes to the PPA's campaign against smuggling by "helping the Bureau of
Customs enforce its 90-day policy for re-exporting foreign containers," Cadano added.

The P900 million TOP-CRMS and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility
procurement contract was awarded to local blockchain-based logistics joint venture company
Shiptek Solutions Corp., NextIX, Inc., and Union Bank in April 2022.

Trade association's take on gov’t solution

But just this year, trade associations all expressed their strong opposition to the PPA
Administrative Order 04-2021 and its Implementing Operational Guidelines just this January
2023.

In a 10 January 2023 joint position letter to PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago, Supply
Chain Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., and
the Export Development Council networking committees have argued that the PPA order
requiring the registration and monitoring of containers should be repealed because it will only
increase the unjustified financial burdens placed on businesses and consumers in the face of out-
of-control inflation and container delays.

The parties disagree with PPA AO 04-2021's claim that an electronic container movement
monitoring system will streamline operations and relieve port congestion. They emphasized that
PPA's explanation of how the system may successfully prevent port congestion was insufficient.

“PPA AO 04-2021 is a tedious, redundant and expensive system. This redundancy generates
additional undue costs to businesses and consumers who are already laden by the skyrocketing
inflation rate and delays in the movement of containers that further worsen congestion in the
ports,” the groups asserted.

The groups said that the order directly interferes with BOC's role in overseeing container
movement inside and outside the port, pursuant to Customs Administrative Order No. 08-2019.

The E-TRACC, a real-time monitoring system of containerized cargoes utilizing GPS-enabled

electronic locks that has been in place since 2019, is also a supplement to the BOC's monitoring
activity, the letter continued.

Additionally, the customs agency has already begun implementing the container identification
and accountability program of the World Customs Organization Cargo Targeting System (WCO-
CTS), which mandates that all foreign shipping companies operating in the Philippines send
WCO-CTS information about their containers and import shipments in advance.