Batangas port misconceptions cleared in business chamber meet

Batangas City—There is an enormous business potential  for Batangas Port and all it needs to take off on a grand scale is to increase  operations and get rid of all the misconceptions that hound one of the country’s biggest and strategically located ports. 

    There's an enormous potential with Batangas Port, all we

have to do is erase all the misconceptions against it and 

maximize it's use. Bastiaan Hokke, Vice President of Asian 

Terminals Inc., erased all the fairytales against one of the 

country's most strategically located and biggest ports.

   This was  Asian Terminals Inc. Vice President Bastiaan Hokke’s update on the Batangas Container Terminal and International Cargo Port during the recent Batangas Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry  Forum and Induction of new officers held recently at the Honda Cars Batangas, Diversion Road, this city.

   “Looking at the prospects of  Batangas, it is extremely important that you attract more investors here.  For a foreigner, it is obvious that you lack a number of large investors in this area, although you have enormous opportunities for foreign investors, I think it can materialize faster and better for all of you as members of this chamber of commerce if we see at least 50,000 containers going to this port in the next few months, instead of what we have for the moment of hundred per week maximum,” Hokke said in his speech.

  According to Hokke, there’s a very strong drive from the Japanese businessworld to maximize the potentials of the Batangas port.  

   “We have to do at least 50% of the capacity of this port. And the capacity is 400,000 per year to make this successful.  If we would be able to do 200,000 by the end of this year,” Hokke added.

   Hokke also clarified the misconceptions circulating among the shipping lines that the Batangas port was prone to problems with trucking, hijacking of containers, corrupt officials with the authorities, customs, and immigrations. And these are some of the reasons why most shipping lines avoid the port.

   “Those are all fairytales.  I can assure that after one year in Batangas, that has been created by the stakeholders in manila that don’t want to lose their containers to Batangas,” Hokke said.

   Another misconceptions was that the charges in Batangas are much higher than in Manila.  This, according to Hokke was another “lovely fairytale that was brought by the same people who don’t want to lose their containers to Batangas.

   “The charges in Batangas are exactly the same as what we charge in South Harbor.     Recently there had been a number of tariff hikes in Manila.  That’s about 17 percent increase. By mid May, you’d pay another 11 percent more for container going to manila. We however, have not increased our rates, so we still have the price level that is far more attractive than in Manila,” Hokke said.

   Hokke also encouraged the members of the chamber of commerce to help make the business potentials of the Batangas Container Port possible.

Smuggling has to stop, is now the battle cry of the new

 business chamber president Faustino Caedo.

   The BPCCI Business Forum on the Batangas Container Port and National Competitiveness also had the induction of  the new officers.

   Under the leadership of its new President Mr. Faustino Caedo and Immediate Past President now Chairman Mr. Pedrito Kalaw, BPCCI held a Business Forum after the installation of its new officers entitled SME Response to Trade Liberalization.

   In his speech, Caedo welcomed the chamber to the new campaign of maximizing all the possibilities of development among all its members.  This new era of pushing the business sector to its full potential and success, he said.

    "This year, we have a lot of things, monumental tasks to do. With the current economic situation, we have a lot of adjustments to do. We'll be working on  a lot of challenges. We are fortunate enough to have a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Customs,  for the  Task Force of Batangas on anti-smuggling," Caedo said.

     

   Reeling from the previous bouts with large scale and technical smuggling of pork, beef, and poultry products, which are the main products of the province, the BPCCI has been in the race to protect its members' products which have been suffering from the unfair prices of smuggled products.

  The association's guests include,  Filemon T. Berba, a member of the National Competitiveness Council, Consultant of the DTI Center for Industrial Competitiveness, President Emeritus of the Philippine Quality Award Foundation, President of the Philippine Foundation for Science Technology and Former President of Globe Telecom, Manila Water Co. and Integrated Microelectronics.

    The new Officers of the Batangas Province Chamber of Commerce 

and Industry, Inc. headed by its new president Faustino G. Caedo.

   PCCI Vice President for South Luzon Eduardo G. Nicolas III inducted the officers into office while Regional Governor (IV) Teresita M. Leabres inducted the new members and BPCCI Guest members for the year which includes La Travesia/Cross Creek Development, Pioneer Laboratory, LIMA Park Hotel, Ace Consultancy Firm and Manpower Inc., Society Glass, Philec/First Philippine Electric Corp, Resorts World Manila, and Hotel 101 Manila. (Mei Magsino)