Gov’t asking Manila to lift truck ban for 30 days if …

Trade and transport officials are targeting Aug. 15 as the day when they finally solve a problem aggravated by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s expanded truck ban.

The Department of Trade and Industry, the Philippine Ports Authority and other members of a government task force gave themselves a week to speed up the movement of cargo at the ports in Manila, which had been heavily congested since the local traffic measure took effect in February and slowed the delivery of products and raw materials for a wide range of businesses.

In a forum on Friday, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the Cabinet’s economic cluster had agreed that by Aug. 15 the movement of cargo to and from Manila’s international cargo depots should be “near-normal.”

But if this “very aggressive target”  is not met, the task force might recommend that the Manila truck ban be suspended for a month, he said.

“We will look at improvements,” Domingo said in a forum held by the Federation of Philippine Industries. “By Aug. 15, conditions at the port should be close to normal. If not, we will revisit (the truck ban). If ever we recommend the lifting of the truck ban, we may first recommend that it be lifted for 30 days.”

But he said the goal already appeared attainable since the situation was “more than 50-percent resolved” as of Friday.

According to Domingo, Metro Manila’s international shipping ports had actually reached capacity even before the truck ban was imposed.

But the ban triggered a chain of events that led to severe congestion that impaired crane movement in the ports and the spillover of cargo containers on the streets outside port facilities.

The ban earlier drew protests from business groups who warned of its impact on the national economy.

Among the steps so far put in place are the designation of a 24/7 express lane on Roxas Boulevard for trucks going to the ports (a concession granted by the Manila city government), the extension of working days in the Bureau of Customs to facilitate cargo movements, the creation of common container yards, and the use of areas in special economic zones to store empty freight containers.

Loaded but still unclaimed containers that have been sitting in ports for years, either because they were confiscated or subject to disputes, are now being moved to Subic to free up space at the Manila ports, according to the DTI chief.

Also on Friday, PPA General Manager Juan Sta. Ana said the agency would rather focus on the measures to ease congestion at the ports rather than on its cause.

The Manila truck ban, Sta. Ana said, was only a small part of the problem.

Sweepers or vessels that move out empty containers had already cleared around one-fifth of the estimated 20,000 “empties” at the ports, he said.

The PPA, he said, had also encouraged shipping companies to use the Batangas and Subic ports instead. With a report from Annelle Tayao-Juego