A first-hand look at port operations

I was invited to watch port operations at the South Harbor last Tuesday. The invitation was made in reaction to this column last March 7 blaming congestion at the Port Area for cargo trucks choking up the streets of Manila while waiting to load or unload their cargoes at the piers. The purpose of the invitation was obviously to show me that the port is not congested, as I said in the column.

I was taken through Bonifacio Drive, over Del Pan Bridge and into the streets leading to the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT). Curiously, there were few cargo trucks parked on the side of the streets.

We passed a street lined with shanties of squatters working at the piers. I learned later during the briefing that Enrique Razon, owner of MICT, offered to construct medium-rise buildings for the squatters.

What happened to the offer? I asked.

Nothing came of it.

Why? What happened?

Nothing, because of money. The squatters were asking for money. They were going to be given housing units in well-built residential buildings, but they still wanted to be paid for their shanties.

Once we were inside the MICT compound, everything was clean and orderly. Container vans were neatly stacked, five high, in rows. Between the rows were wide streets for the cargo trucks. Above were huge cranes that loaded and unloaded the container vans.

A container ship docked beside the pier was being loaded while we were there. Trucks with two trailers hauled the containers to the side of the ship and the cranes carefully lifted them to the ship deck.

How long do these containers stay here? I asked.

“Not long. All of these vans will be loaded in one day,” Christian, chief of port operations, said, pointing to rows and rows of container vans. That’s how fast cargoes are loaded and unloaded at MICT.

One would think that for such a busy terminal, the streets would be clogged with cargo trucks. But curiously, I saw only a few trucks. They were waiting in neat rows, on a big parking lot inside the compound. They came in

only as needed. There were also no men loitering around. The area had the atmosphere of a hospital compound rather than a busy port.

Also, trucks came in and out of the compound with very little human contact. There were no guards at the gates. The 19 gates were controlled by eight men working in a single room with monitors and computers. They could see the trucks on the monitor, read the documents through the monitor and, when everything was in order, pushed a button that opened the gates.

When guards were still posted at the gates, truck drivers would pass them peso bills, Christian said. That was bad. In the new system, with no guards at the gates, there is no human contact, nobody to pass peso bills to.

But what I have described is only the MICT compound. There are other port operators inside the Port Area.

Christian showed us a Google map of the whole Port Area and surrounding areas. The streets were colored green and red—green for streets that were clear. When the streets became congested, their color on the map slowly turned red. That gave the unit in charge of traffic control an idea of what to do. The Google map also showed where empty container vans were stacked—not only inside the Port Area but also outside, in private lots.

Obviously, there is an oversupply of empty container vans, and owners of empty lots made good business renting them out for the containers.

The problem for the traffic congestion is not the cargo trucks, Christian said, it’s the lack of infrastructure. The number of cargo trucks has remained constant at around 1,600. But car manufacturers pour around 200,000 vehicles out into the streets every year. Where are you going to put all that? Why ban the trucks and not the cars?

Obviously, since there is no more space on ground level for additional streets, a skyway is needed for the trucks so they don’t add to the traffic congestion.

That is already being done, said Christian. Work on a skyway from the Port Area to Caloocan and beyond has begun. But that would take some time to finish.

There are railroad tracks running from the piers to Divisoria and Tutuban to Caloocan and then to north or south Luzon, I said. Why not revive it so cargoes can be brought out of the Port Area aboard cargo trains instead of trucks that go through the narrow streets of Metro Manila?

We already did that, replied Christian, but you know what happened? The truckers lowered their fees and the Philippine National Railways lost money and discontinued the operation.

Another problem is the railroad tracks. In Calamba, Laguna, the double tracks end and a single track remains. So the trains have to wait long hours for the trains coming from the opposite direction to pass before they can continue on their journey. That’s time and money lost.

So it looks like the solution lies in the alternate ports of Batangas and Subic. But again, there is a problem there. The port operator in Batangas is Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI). The facilities of ATI are limited and cannot handle more cargoes. The contract with ATI specifies that it should expand on the fourth year. It is now beyond the fourth year.

At a House committee hearing, ATI was asked by a congressman why it has not expanded operations as stipulated in the contract. Its representatives replied that it would be unfair for their stockholders to spend money for expansion when, according to their estimates, the volume of cargo would increase

only on the seventh year.

If ATI does not follow the terms of the contract, congressmen warned, the contract can be rescinded. End of argument.

The government agency supervising port operators is the Philippine Ports Authority. What is it doing?