LOGISTICS company Fast Logistics said the disruption caused by the rehabilitation of the San Juanico Bridge has resulted in a three-week backlog and a spike in charges, its chief executive officer Manuel Onrejas Jr. said.
He told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Supply Chain and Logistics Center (SCLC) in Makati City on Wednesday that the company has had to break bulk of the shipments on wing vans into smaller vessels, such as L300 vans to be able to cross the bridge, where vehicles exceeding 3 tons in weight are barred.
“We cannot regularize our deliveries from the jump off point in Tacloban where the choke point is, to Samar. It’s tough but we hope in two to three days, we can normalize operations,” Onrejas added. For now, he said, logistics companies are shouldering the costs.
“So, what we’ll do is we’ll negotiate with our principal because the cost is usually doubled or even tripled,” Onrejas said. “If the cost before is a thousand (pesos) it will become P2,000 now.”
He said eventually they will go back to the government to ask that it to address the routes and the RORO (roll on, roll off) vessels.
“In fairness to the government, there are routes being opened. I hope the government would also control the cost that will be charged to us,” he added.
Onrejas was referring to the use of alternate routes and delivery schemes, such as flying products through the Amandayehan airport or ferrying the goods using the Roll On/Roll Off (RoRo) and Landing Craft Tank vessels at the Amandayehan port.
Before the disruption, about 1,700 ten-wheeler trucks would go back and forth on the San Juanico bridge per day, he said.
“The government should really have a backup plan through RORO ferries to absorb the 1,700 plus trucks. We need more RORO ports, more vessels, bigger vessels for RORO,” Onrejas said.
He said ideally, a Cebu-Samar direct route and Luzon to Mindanao direct route should be set in place to facilitate movement of goods.
In a separate interview at the launch, Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said she hopes logistics companies could hold off any price increases for now to ensure stable supply and prices of basic necessities and prime commodities,
A 60-day price freeze is in effect in Samar province, the Department of Trade and Industry said.
“Our main goal here is to move the goods quickly,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, the DTI on Wednesday launched a hotline and portal SCLC as part of efforts to lower logistics costs and make micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) more competitive and more connected.
Roque said at the launch that through the SCLC Hotline and Portal, MSMEs can now access real-time support for freight inquiries, service referrals, regulatory guidance, and more — right at their fingertips.
