Small ports hit target collection, big ports fail

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Dec 2009

REVENUES from the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) collection are showing mixed signals in December, with most of the smaller ports able to hit their respective targets, but the Port of Manila continuing to drag down the agency’s revenues.
Preliminary figures from the BOC show that only four of the 12 smaller ports of collection were not able to hit their assigned collection goal as of December 23. Those unable to hit their targets for the month were the ports in San Fernando, which collected only P10.6 million of its P175-million target; Surigao, which produced only a fraction of its P1.1-million goal; and Cagayan de Oro, which was P28 million off its target.
The ports that hit their goals were those in Iloilo, Cebu, Tacloban, Zamboanga, Davao, Subic Bay, Clark Field and Aparri.
Both Manila International Container Port (MICP), the country’s largest collection district, and Batangas Port surprised the BOC by exceeding their goals for the period.
MICP, a port operated by International Container Terminal Services Inc., exceeded its P4.5-billion target for the month by at least P497 million, while Batangas Port surpassed its goal of P3.97 billion by P441 million.
Limay, also an oil port, continued its dismal performance after collecting just P925 million from its P3.04-billion target.
Port of Manila, which has been a drag to the BOC for most of the year as it accounts for more than a third of the agency’s shortfall, continued its dismal performance but at a slower rate with just P210 million deficit, a narrower figure compared with the previous months.
The port collected P3.58 billion against its P4.23-billion target.
The BOC’s cash collection for the month was placed at P15.89 billion against its target of P21 billion.
In the previous years, when the BOC was able to attain its targets, the government gave funding for the National Food Authority’s rice imports, which then became the Tax Expenditure Fund (TEF) collection of the agency.
This year, however, the BOC has to step up its cash collections—or those revenues coming from the ports—after the Department of Budget and Management only released funding for rice imports from March to November.
The BOC’s TEF target was placed at P33.27 billion but the agency was able to collect only P21.98 billion for the year.
The BOC has a total cash collection from January to December 23 of P220.29 billion, while its goal was P240.02 billion.
Of the P48.94-billion shortfall, some P19.49 billion belongs to Port of Manila, P11.28 billion from TEF, P8.18 billion from Limay, P6.84 billion from MICP and P3.28 billion from Batangas.

Source: Business Mirror