Philippines Customs commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno will meet officials of New NAIA Infra Corp, the Department of Transportation and other partners to address warehouse capacity limits at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, reports Manila'a PortCalls.
Philippines Customs commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno will meet officials of New NAIA Infra Corp, the Department of Transportation and other partners to address warehouse capacity limits at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, reports Manila'a PortCalls.
Mr Nepomuceno said the meeting will identify long?�term solutions and remedial measures to ease congestion at the country's premier gateway. He is expected to visit People's Air Cargo & Warehousing Co (Paircargo), which has been struggling with shipment delays.
The bottleneck stems from the closure of Philippine Skylanders International's warehouse after NNIC reclaimed its premises for redevelopment. That left Paircargo and Cargohaus as the only customs bonded warehouses serving multiple carriers, with Paircargo handling about 70 per cent of NAIA's cargo.
Assistant commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said the Bureau of Customs aims to clear the Paircargo backlog by July, ahead of the "ber months" peak season. He added the bureau will continue coordinating with NNIC on long?�term cargo plans and warehouse accreditation.
The congestion has hit the semiconductor industry hard, with clearance rates falling from 95 per cent last year to 76 per cent. At least one global technology company has suspended production due to shipment delays, industry leaders warned.
Interim measures include converting part of the Duty Free area into a satellite processing facility and considering the old Miascor site as a customs zone. BOC?�NAIA has also extended operating hours to 7am-9pm daily, encouraged morning releases and set up a Viber group for stakeholders to track shipments.
