Are we doing enough to improve our water transportation system?

The shipping industry has thrown its full support behind President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s program to link the entire country by sea travel, but has also sought more government support and incentives so it can transport people and goods faster, more effectively and at cheaper cost.

Although the government is exerting efforts to further develop shipping as a means of moving people and cargoes from one place to another, industry observers describe the present domestic water transport system as “still needing much improvement.”

The Philippine Inter-island Shipping Association (PISA) has called the government’s attention to the pressing need to improve and upgrade the country’s ports to ensure safe and efficient transport of passengers and goods to their destinations.

And to make the industry globally competitive, the association, has likewise asked for incentive grants equal to those extended to overseas shipping and local airlines, deregulation, streamlining of the national regulatory requirements, improved trading practices, and access to affordable financing.

As a basic enabler of economic activities that also allows movement of people, good and services, the domestic shipping industry has automatically become an active partner of the government in its flagshipundertaking geared towards moving basic commodities and supplies efficiently from producers to end-users“through the introduction of modern storage handling and transport system under proper quality management.”

For this reason, industry leaders are optimistic that the incentives and infrastructure support they have long been clamoring for will happen within the fresh six-year term of President Arroyo, who, as recent events would bear out, is pursuing this program with vigor and determination.

A major component of this undertaking called the Sustainable Logistics Development Program is the Road Roll-On Roll-Off Terminal System (RRTS), a mode of marine transport which allows loading and discharging of self-powered vehicles like cars and trucks on their own wheels by their owners or drivers between vessels and shores via a ramp. Using the system, traders can thus move their goods, say, from Mindanao to Manila, in the security of their own vehicles with less damage and minimized cargo handling, enabling them to sell their products in Manila or in other parts of Luzon at cheaper or more competitive prices.

Travelers, on the other, can tour the islands in the comfort of their cars.

Anticipating increased traffic in RRTS, the Department of Transportation and Communications said the government is encouraging the private sector to participate in the establishment and operation of RRTS facilities, which are capital-intensive, as well as invest in information technology.

As companies participating in the supply chain have, thanks to modern technology, synchronized business processes into a network, the DoTC have urged them to fully utilize advancements in IT.

Effectively addressing the need for greater information flow from the supplier’s supplier to the customer’s customer will enable firms to optimize their distribution operations.

Towards providing the backbone for the development of tourism and agricultural industries, the government has initiated moves to effect further improvement in the transportation system by land, by air and by sea.

Only recently, the National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee approvedthe P21 billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project.

However, the land transportation sector felt the government was not doing enough, saying the Philippines falls behind its neighbors in terms of quality or length of paved roads. A former undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications said in a published interview that “…the quality of our existing road transport network is not very good, there are portions with potholes, bridges that need to be rehabilitated so really there are sections that need improvement.”

The maritime sector, which includes domestic and overseas shipping, the seafaring and manning sector, shipbuilding and ship repair and the development of the country’s ports, also said that the government can still do much for the industry.

Over the years, an overriding concern of this sector has been the sorry state of domestic ports which it said can be improved in every aspect from planning to policies to safeguard and ensure efficient transport of cargo. Ports, industry observers pointed out, must be constructed to be comfortable and safe to passengers like the airports are.

They bewail the fact that ports do not have physical structures as airports do to control people from entering the ship. As it is now, even people without tickets can board the vessel, a situation that could pose danger to life and property.

According to PISA, only a few ports can serve large ships presently. Vessels of such size must wait for the tide to rise before they can enter or leave the port, causing delay and additional cost for traders moving cargo from the producer to the end-user. The longer vessels stay in port the lower the productivity of the port becomes.

As the nation moves to make the most out of the RRTS, so too does the shipping industry hope to forge ahead not only locally but globally as well with the government, which it claims to have long neglected the industry in the past, as its staunchest partner in growth and development.