GSC, N. Sulawesi chambers work out Bitung sea route

MANADO, North Sulawesi – A business delegation from General Santos City in southern Mindanao met recently with counterparts in this Indonesian port to work out the details of a shipping route between General Santos and Bitung, North Sulawesi.

The Manado Meeting is one of several which followed an agreement signed earlier this year by the North Sulawesi and General Santos City Chambers of Commerce, to establish sea and air linkages between their territories, harmonize customs, immigration and quarantine procedures and coordinate tourism-related initiatives.

The proposed General Santos-Bitung feeder corridor is expected to enhance trade under the East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) initiative.

The proposed route is the shortest between North Sulawesi and Southern Mindanao under the EAGA framework, approximately 18 sailing hours from point to point, which would enable container vessel operators to minimize variable costs.

A working paper by the North Sulawesi Chamber points out that traders have been forging this passage for centuries, but that the “essential difference…today is that the sea linkage between Bitung and General Santos City must now be viewed in a global context.”

“The cost of shipping from General Santos to North and East Asia and the USA through Kaoshiung, Taiwan, is approximately half of the cost of shipping from North Sulawesi to these same markets, due to double handling of cargo and longer sailing time,” said Renne Subido of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao Program, who co-chaired the delegation.

While foreign shipping vessels are able to transport container cargo directly from General Santos with bills of lading issued in the city’s Makar Wharf, North Sulawesi export cargo has to be coursed through either Jakarta or Surabaya, for loading onto foreign vessel containers, he added.

“On the other hand, the cost of shipping from North Sulawesi to Singapore and Europe may be competitively priced compared to the cost of shipping to these markets from Gen San,” Subido said.

“The agencies involved in establishing the General Santos-Bitung route are now conducting a formal review of exports from their area, as well as government policies and regulations, to ensure that it is indeed cost-effective,” he added.

The Mindanao delegation was co-chaired by Domingo Teng, president of the General Santos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and included representatives from the shipping and port services industries, as well as officials from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Regional Development.

They met with Bernardino Vega, president of North Sulawesi Chamber and Industry; local shippers and exporters, PORTEK of Singapore, Bitung trade, customs and port officials, the BIMP EAGA Secretary for North Sulawesi and Philippine consular officials based in Manado. (GEM)