Port of Manila

Title

Port of Manila

Creator

Moore, R. L.

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXVII (Issue No. 5) May 1951

Year

1951

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

May, 1951 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 157 April.................................................. 39,080,000** 35,378,000 May.................................................... 37,611,000 June.................................................... 37,529,000 July.................................................... 38,774,000 August............................................... 39,872,000 September........................................ 38,791,000 October.............................................. 40,657,000 November......................................... 39,268,000 December......................................... 41,099,000 Total................................. 458,576,000 ♦*Pa-:ially estimated /^vutiIut in April was 3,702,000 kwh, or 10.5% above '^Apjil, 1950. The higher rate of increase is due to the fact Ilfat the Easter holidays were in April last year, while they were in March this year. Output in May is expected to esjual the January output. Port of Manila By R. L. Moore General Manager, Luzon Brokerage Company IMPORTS have continued to stream into the Philippines this past month in larger quantities than has been wit nessed in some years. At one time during the past ten days, there were some 16 ships on berth, at anchorage, and in the breakwater. Shades of yesteryear! It is very difficult to prognosticate the level or volume on the basis of any constancy. In fact, everyone feels that the present high level is attributable to first-quarter returns and that there is a lull in the offing. With the vacillating policy existing in controls, including constant personnel changes and day-to-day startage and stoppage in the issuance of licenses—very often with little or no reason, it is impos sible that there could be any regular flow. Certainly there is no room for accurate prophecy as to the future. Customs continues to sanction the in-transit customs storage which operates under what the Warehousemen’s Association and the Brokers’ Association term “irregular practices” for several valid reasons: (1) the contract was let on a negotiated basis, without opening to invitation for bid from the already established warehousemen in the business; (2) it is operated at rates much higher than the Warehousemen’s Association’s established rates, which, of course, redounds to the disadvantage of the public. The Customs Brokers’ Association has protested to the Com missioner of Customs on these grounds and others, but to date the protest has gone by the board, the only explana tion offered being that little or no in-transit cargo goes into this terminal bonded warehouse and that, rather, the cargo is retained in the pier sheds which are ample to>» handle such in-transit storage. As to capacity, the latter may be true. However, in point of fact, considerable storage passes into this in-transit bonded warehouse, as may be seen by checking on the storage charges paid by the various brokerage firms. It is very galling to all of us, regularly established in the business, to have to pay in behalf of our customers exorbitant storage rates, when all of us have maintained and operated regularly bonded warehouses for this purpose. Something should be done about this! At this time of the year, of course, our packing and crating business bursts into full bloom, what with all the vacationists and business people and their families return ing to their homes on leave. Often there are those leaving on a one-way ticket,—we see much of this from our perch here on the waterfront, and we must say that it is often with regret that we set about the handling of such work. quality Colgate-Palmolive products. COLGATE-PALMOLIVE PHILIPPINES, INC. MAKATI, RIZAL

pages

157

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