PPA, China port authority sign deal to improve operations
THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the Port and Shipping Authority (PSA) of Haikou City in China have partnered for the improvement of port management operations.
In a statement on Friday, the agency said PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago and PSA of Haikou City Director General Lin Jian recently signed the deal.
“With the latest arrangement sealed, the door is now open to promote and deepen the mutual cooperation between the two parties through sharing experience and expertise in the areas of port development and maintenance, port management, port operations and trade cargo, port safety and disaster prevention, port environmental issues as well as other mutually acceptable areas of cooperation,” the statement read.
The said deal is the second between the two countries in more than a decade.
The port regulator earlier signed a similar agreement for the ports of Manila and Davao with Guangzhou to facilitate shipments of goods between the ports involved.
The PPA said it is pushing to offer similar deals to other international ports to boost viability and competitiveness of local ports and benchmark it to world standards.
Aside from the two deals with China-based ports, PPA has also has existing agreements with Incheon Port in South Korea, the Ports of Kobe and Yokohama in Japan, Port of Cork in Ireland and recently renewed its partnership with the Port of San Francisco. – J.C. Lim
