BARGE operators want to be exempt from securing the Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) and the yet-to-be-enforced Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance coverage required by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), saying these are unnecessary costs.
Non-motorized barges should not be subject to the CPC and the P&I just like non-motorized wooden-hulled vessels, according to Lighterage Association of the Philippines president Celso Reyes.
He said LAP members’ barges operate only on rivers and bays. “Also even if the barge carrying grains sink, it will not cause marine pollution. In the area of wreck removal, it will not cost much to salvage a barge that sank,” he said.
LAP’s sentiments are echoed by the Philippine Ro-Ro Association, Concerned Metro Manila Tugboat, Barges and Landing Craft Transport Owners and the Visayan Association of Ferry Boats and Coastwise Service Operators.
The associations said Marina should instead make P&I coverage voluntary.
The idea of mandatory P&I coverage followed the sinking of a Sulpicio Lines vessel off the coast of Sibuyan Island in Romblon at the height of typhoon Frank in June 2008.
