DTI: Logistics firms 'signified' no rate hike amid San Juanico Bridge rehab
Logistics and freight companies have committed to not increase delivery rates amid mounting transportation costs due to the ongoing repair of the San Juanico Bridge, Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said Wednesday.
'We talked to them (logistics firms), and they already signified that they will not increase any price to move the goods from point A to point B. And they will have an aggressive approach on this,' Roque said at the sidelines of the launch of the Department of Trade and Industry's Supply Chain and Logistics Center in Makati City.
The Trade chief said freight forwarders also committed to 'no price increase, while there is a problem in San Juanico Bridge.'
In a chance interview with reporters, Fast Logistics CEO Manuel Onrejas Jr. said freight forwarders have seen 'double the cost for now' as their trucks cross the San Juanico Strait via roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels while there is a weight limit for vehicles using the five-decade-old which is being repaired.
'We cannot absorb everything, we need to find ways to share the cost,' Onrejas said.
'The government should have backup plan through RoRo ferries. I think we need more RoRo ports, bigger vessels for RoRos,' he added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has issued Proclamation No. 920, placing Eastern Visayas under a state of calamity for a year, to give way for the repairs on San Juanico Bridge.
Marcos said the state of calamity took effect on June 5 and may be lifted earlier or extended depending on the circumstances.
The 2.16-kilometer San Juanico Bridge, one of the longest in the Philippines, links Samar and Leyte provinces in the Visayas. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
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