The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) is urging the government to invest in container logistics projects to ease supply bottlenecks and build long-term solutions for fragmented supply chains in the country’s island provinces.
In a statement Thursday, PCAFI said the repair of the San Juanico Bridge has exposed the vulnerability of current systems. It proposed setting up container or reefer barge terminals in underused ports across key food-producing islands.
The group said a modern container logistics network would improve the flow of goods and reduce food prices—even in urban centers.
“Modern dry and reefer container logistics are essential for access to production inputs and export markets,” PCAFI president Danilo Fausto said. “Reefer logistics is especially important for frozen seafood, meat, and chilled fruits.”
Fausto noted that large islands such as Samar, Palawan, Mindoro, Leyte, Bohol, Masbate, Catanduanes, Basilan, Marinduque, and Busuanga—despite making up 18 percent of national landmass—still lack access to modern container logistics.
Many of these areas, he said, struggle to bring in critical inputs like fertilizers, feeds, chemicals, and equipment—and face high costs when shipping out produce that could feed mainland markets and export hubs.
Fausto added that using landing craft tanks (LCTs) and container barges would make logistics systems in these islands both viable and cost-efficient.
The group proposed piloting the project in Samar, where the underutilized San Isidro Ferry Port in Northern Samar could be repurposed for container operations. Reconfiguring the port—with forklifts and reach stackers—would cost no more than P100 million, PCAFI said.
A working container system there could relieve congestion at the Matnog and Amandayehan roll-on/roll-off (RORO) crossings and ease inbound movement of rice, canned goods, and farm inputs. It would also allow smoother outbound shipment of raw materials such as coconuts, coffee, bananas, and ube, Fausto said.
With San Isidro port located just 130 nautical miles from Cebu and 150 from Iloilo, it could also serve as a transshipment point for additional supply and exports.
Fausto said similar container logistics hubs could be developed for P300 million in other island provinces, including Bohol (Ubay RORO port), Southern Palawan (Brooke’s Point), and Mindoro (Calapan and Abra de Ilog).
Separately, PCAFI also called on the government to transfer the Agriculture Guarantee Fund Pool (AGFP) from the Department of Finance to the Department of Agriculture to better support small farmers and fisherfolk.
Fausto said the AGFP currently covers at least 85 percent of unsecured loans extended to smallholder borrowers, encouraging more financial institutions to lend to the sector. “This will give banks more confidence to finance even the smallest agricultural players,” he said.
