2GO, the logistics arm of Aboitiz Transport System (ATS), is not interested in taking the place of Solid Shipping Lines (SSL) when the latter pulls out of the livestock trade in May.
SSL offers the only direct call to Mindanao for the livestock trade, controlling 70% of the market. It is exiting the trade partly because it has not found a viable waste disposal system for cattle waste. Instead, it will concentrate on the carriage of dry goods and agricultural products such as rice and corn.
“Unless shippers choose to transport their meat through reefers or processed meat, they have to look for other carriers and not 2GO,” 2GO president and chief executive Sabin Aboitiz said at the sidelines of the launch of the company’s Supply Chain Management course at the Jose Rizal University over weekend.
Aboitiz said shippers should consider reefer shipping of processed meat because it offers a significant reduction in shipping expense. “It will also answer the sanitation problem at the North Harbor and reduce the needed infrastructure investments for such cargo,” he added.
It is not clear whether other local cargo carriers Sulpicio, Oceanic and the Magsaysay-owned Lorenzo and National Marine will agree to fill the void.
Last week, the Philippine Shippers Bureau (PSB) issued a call for carriers to take up the impending slack to be left by SSL to avoid disruption in the country’s supply chain. PSB said shipments of livestock, particularly from the General Santos-Manila route, would be delayed by 15-20% if no one offers direct services.
