Subic port users may now complete processing of import transactions at the port in four hours from the previous one day with the recent opening of the One-Stop Shop (OSS).
Piloted on April 17, the OSS was formally launched on April 24, coinciding with the 2nd Subic Bay Maritime Conference and Exhibit. It was inaugurated by Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman Roberto Garcia and Subic Bay International Terminal Corp (SBITC) general manager Roberto Locsin, who were all speakers at the conference.
The OSS houses under one roof the combined agencies of SBMA and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Subic inside the New Container Terminal 1, next to the administration offices of SBITC and the satellite offices of several shipping lines.
The OSS promotes seamless transaction flow where customers can toggle between counters to address BOC and SBMA requirements. Port users no longer have to travel from one office to another to process their documents. Stakeholders earlier said they found it cumbersome having to go to different areas in Subic Bay Freeport Zone to process their import documents.
The OSS has a business lounge equipped with wi-fi for last-minute corrections or adjustments prior to payment; billing is also within the One-Stop-Shop. A free SBMA shuttle to the terminal is provided to ensure getting around is easy.
“Through the OSS, what we want to achieve is a seamless flow of transactions to the benefit of our customers,” SBITC’s Locsin said in his conference presentation. “The facility practically solves the problem of having to go to different locations within the Freeport zone to follow up on transactions.”
The four-day dry run, which started mid-April, showed promising results in terms of improving overall processing efficiency, Locsin said. If queues are short, applicants whose document requirements are complete will find the average processing time effectively cut to around four hours from the previous full day.
“The dry run went smoothly and we are happy with the feedback we got. Just imagine the convenience: out of the 16 steps before you get your container out of the terminal, 14 of them can be processed in the OSS facility. After taking a good first step towards improving things here in Subic, the next step is to get the word out and get more customers to come to us,” Locsin pointed out.
Apart from the OSS, SBITC is also touting the port’s other strengths, including its competitive rates compared with other ports in Luzon, and the flexibility, reliability, and convenience it offers.
Secretary Almendras underscored Subic’s role as a trading gateway to northern and central Luzon and as a support facility for the container market of the Port of Manila.
“The government needs to add port capacity outside Metro Manila to address the country’s growing container volumes, and Subic Bay has so much potential because of its existing port, infrastructure, roads and electricity,” he said in his conference presentation. – Roumina Pablo
