Officials of the Philippine Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will soon meet to iron out kinks in the transfer of Philippine Shippers’ Bureau (PSB) supervisory and accreditation powers over freight forwarders to Marina.
“This is a done deal,” Marina officer-in-charge Atty. Nicasio Conti said in a recent media discussion. The transfer will likely be formalized within the first semester of the year.
“Everything is ready including the executive order formally transferring the powers from PSB to us. We just need to make sure the affected employees will not be left unemployed with the transfer,” he added.
The new composition of employees will also have to be approved by the Marina Board.
Moves to transfer accreditation and supervision powers over freight forwarders to Marina from PSB, a DTI agency, were initiated about five years ago.
Seafreight forwarders led by the Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association (PISFA) claim Marina is the most appropriate government body to regulate and oversee the industry. The development will put under DOTC the airfreight and the seafreight forwarding sectors.
Air freight forwarders are already regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board, a DOTC agency.
