The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through the Export Development Council (EDC), is proposing the inclusion of container chassis roll-on/roll-off (Cha-Ro) in an executive order promoting investment in and development of roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) terminal systems.
The EDC is asking that Executive Order No. 170-2003, entitled “Promoting Private Sector Participation and Investment in the Development and Operation of the Road Roll-on/Roll-Off Terminal System (RRTS),” expand its coverage to include Cha-Ro systems to help bring down transport costs for cargoes.
Cha-Ro is a form of Ro-Ro system where a container mounted on a chassis is loaded on and off the cargo belly of Ro-Ro ships by a prime mover or a tractor. Unlike pure Ro-Ro mode, however, the container-mounted chassis is disengaged from the prime mover, leaving behind the prime mover at the port of origin. The cargo is later picked up by another prime mover at the port of discharge.
EDC, in a paper signed by Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo and submitted to the Office of the President, endorsed the inclusion of Cha-Ro under EO No. 170-2003, which was signed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The EO, amended twice, in 2003 and 2005, aims to integrate road networks into nautical routes leading to and from national highways.
According to the EDC paper, including Cha-Ro in the EO will “lower transport cost by 15-20% mainly because the prime mover, an expensive equipment, is not required to travel with the chassis mounted container onto/from the Ro-Ro ships.”
EDC noted that the current Ro-Ro service provided under EO 170 has already brought about “positive economic gains in the form of farm productivity, lower transport costs especially of agricultural commodities from Mindanao to Luzon, improved transport services, increased economic activities” in cities and municipalities where Ro-Ro ports had been established, among others.
Under the draft EO, Section 1 of EO 170 will be amended to lift the restriction of the coverage to “self-driven” rolling cargoes and include Cha-Ro.
By doing this, it will also support and complement the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Ro-Ro network project and address issues connected to the movement of natural persons, CIQS (customs, immigration, quarantine, security), and technical operations.
Moreover, this will promote competitiveness of the export sector and is one of the strategies identified in the Export Development Plan 2014-2016.
The paper also said the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has endorsed through EDC the proposed executive order, through a letter dated February 10, 2015 sent by PPA assistant general manager Raul Santos to the EDC Networking Committee on Transport and Logistics’ Meneleo Carlos. – Roumina Pablo
