THE Manila International Container Port (MICP) said international shipping lines have signed on to a scheme to decongest the ports by increasing their weekend loading of empty containers for re-export, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) said in a statement.
The scheme covers users of the MICP, which is operated by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) and is intended to bring yard utilization to “ideal levels” and resolve “the recurring issue on the difficulty in returning empty containers.”
It said MICP district collector Erastus Sandino B. Austria concluded the agreement with Evergreen Shipping Agency, Wan Hai Lines, CMA-CGM/APL, Ben Line Agencies, Cosco Shipping Lines, KMTC, Hyundai Merchant Marine, TMS Ship Agencies, One Network Express, Yang Ming Shipping, SITC Container Lines, OOCL and Namsung Shipping.
The shippers agreed to bring out an extra 100 to 1,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers on weekends, starting March 9 and 10.
The scheme will be supported by the availability to participants of additional weekend double-tansaction slots — a feature of the port booking system that supports and incentivizes the subsequent export of imported containers.
In the statement, ICTSI was quoted as saying that few containers are returned for export, while the shipping firms undertook to persuade their clients to return more containers.
At the meeting with shippers, Mr. Austria was quoted as saying that many ships had more capacity available to take on empty containers.
“On average, far less than 2,000 empty TEUs are loaded for export in a 24-hour cycle,” Mr. Austria said. “That is an unacceptable number.”
The BoC said the scheme could raise MICP’s weekly total of empty containers loaded into outgoing ships to 17,500 TEUs from current levels of about 10,000, which it described as the “high average” level.
