WATERFRONT stakeholders and logistic companies are still not convinced that the imposition of the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility proposed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will solve the prevailing problems in managing empty containers and container deposits.

In a Truckers Summit recently, PPA Assistant General Manager for Finance and Administration Elmer Cadano maintained that TOP-CRMS is eyed to eliminate container deposits and manage empty containers that some business groups are opposing.

A staunch critic of the proposal, the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations (Actoo) fears that the program would inflate the cost of logistics which is far from the actual benefits it can bring to the table.

'Also, truckers and other logistics firms already have a global position system (GPS) in place that can monitor our cargoes. We can monitor our cargo. There's redundancy there. They should avert promptly the enduring problems that we face, which are the incremental costs that we are suffering, among other problems,' Actoo representative Dong Santos said.

Concerns raised during the trucker's summit are the incremental costs that truckers endure such as the payment for some traffic enforcers of the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau and barangay officials surrounding the Port of Manila before they enter ports, low connectivity inside the Manila International Container Terminal, among other issues.

The proposal, however, got support from the Confederation of Truckers Associations of the Philippines (CTAP) represented at the summit by its president, May Zapata. She urged fellow stakeholders to give PPA a chance and enough time to rectify the issues hounding their industry.

'During our recent meeting the PPA assured us that inch-by-inch, they will do something with our problems, though the result will not be there in a snap. Pagbigyan natin ang prosesong ito. Kapag hindi umubra, balikan natin sila at kausapin ulit natin ang PPA,' she said.

Cadano maintained that under Presidential Decree 857, it is PPA's mandate to manage and monitor the entry, exit, re-entry and re-export of containers at PPA-administered ports.

He assured that PPA is in constant communication and coordination with the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and does not encroach on the function of the latter.

The PPA officialpointed out that BoC's Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo (E-Tracc) monitoring system is limited only to containerized cargoes using GPS-enabled electronic locks bound to limited destinations, Custom Facilities and Warehouses (CFW) and Philippine Economic Zones, while PPA's mandate is to manage cargo traffic in its terminals and avoid port congestion.

He said that while BoC and PPA have their respective mandates, sharing of data to provide a whole-of-government approach to solving national problems such as smuggling should not be frowned upon but, on the contrary, encouraged.

'TOP-CRMS will keep a registry and monitor all inbound shipping containers that will track every foreign-owned container's location and movement using the industry-accepted data interchange formats through encrypted channels. While the PPA does not claim the TOP-CRMS will solve all the problems in smuggling, the data generated from the system might help the other government agencies in their drive to curb this long-standing problem that has resulted in billions of lost revenues to the government, not to mention the unfair practices committed against domestic producers,' Cadano explained.

'The objective of PPA is to provide additional support by solidifying clear jurisdiction and cooperation with equally mandated government agencies,' he added.

The mandate and interests of BoC are specific to cargo and identification of implements used to transport cargo from ports of origin, shipments, and ports of destination.

Streamlining does not mean any government agency will forgo its mandate and subsume authority under another agency.

Although TOP-CRMS is not primarily intended as an anti-smuggling system, the TOP-CRMS can thwart cargo diversion which is a common tool for smuggling schemes. With this real-time tracking, law enforcers can now eliminate fake consignees and prevent additional charges. After all, addressing smuggling should be an orchestrated effort.

'Not only did the public consultation expose the ambiguity of shipping line charges but it also pointed out that there is a dire need for a uniform and systematic container monitoring system. With the TOP-CRMS, the P980 container monitoring fee inclusive of container deposit insurance and the P3,408 empty container handling service fee (for its first three days at PPA-designated empty container yards) will be instead of the more costly container deposit fees amounting up to P30,000 (or even P180,000 for refrigerated containers),' Cadano said.

Aside from container deposits, the TOP-CRMS under its proposed shared staging facility for empty containers will likewise address concerns on detention charges, container imbalance charges and peak season charges.