The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the Port and Shipping Authority (PSA) of Haikou City in China have agreed to become sister ports in a move to improve services in all jurisdictional areas covered by both authorities.
PPA general manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago and PSA of Haikou City director general Lin Jian signed the pact in a short program hosted by the PPA recently.
The PPA-Haikou City agreement is the second pact signed by the Philippines with China in more than a decade. PPA earlier signed a similar agreement for the ports of Manila and Davao with the port of Guangzhou to facilitate shipments of goods between the ports involved.
PPA in a statement said that with the latest arrangement sealed, “the door is now open to promote and deepen the mutual cooperation between the two parties through sharing experience and expertise in the areas of port development and maintenance, port management, port operations and trade cargo, port safety and disaster prevention, port environmental issues as well as other mutually acceptable areas of cooperation.”
Aside from Guangzhou and Haikou City, PPA signed similar contracts with Incheon Port in South Korea in 2011. It has also inked pacts with the ports of Kobe and Yokohama in Japan and the Port of Cork in Ireland, and recently renewed its partnership with the Port of San Francisco.
Currently, PPA is evaluating a pool of international ports they plan to offer similar arrangements to, in a bid to increase the viability and competitiveness of Philippine ports and benchmark it to global standards.
