Port of Manila

Media

Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Port of Manila
Creator: Brown, Madox
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXV (Issue No.10) October 1949
Year: 1949
Rights
Fulltext: REAL ESTATE SALES IN MANILA, 1940-1949 Prepared by the Bureau of the Census and Statistics Note: A large percentage of J945 sales and a diminishing percentage of .1496 sales, re present Japanese Occupation transactions not recorded until after liberation. January . February , March . . April . . . May . . . .June . . . July . . . August . . September October . . November December Total . . 1940 P 6,004,145 918,873 1,415,246 883,207 403,866 542,187 1,324,861 1,905,828 1,141,114 993,103 938,416 1,504,004 P17,974,844 PIO,647,285 P22,890,133 1941 P 962,970 779,783 1,532,104 988,380 1,129,736 598,431 559,742 1,239,414 815,112 1,182,678 858,235 (?) 1945 P 7,943,605 1,337,830 (?) 213,262 962,008 1,212,780 1,123,565 699,740 1,870,670 2,096,893 2,555,472 2,874,408 1946 P 4,385,011 2,267,151 2,622,190 1,916,293 3,684,937 3,637,956 4,974,862 4,438,510 4,698,896 5,545,800 3,340,384 4,025,926 P45,537,914 1947 P 6,030,012 7,217,317 7,166,866 8,611,076 4,618,181 3,988,560 4,097,183 5,627,572 7,437,213 6,083,486 4,177,054 3,205,584 P68,260,104 1948 P 3,644,734 3,879,633 4,243,719 5,021,093 3,129,799 8,019,246 5,146,529 6,192,876 4,737,581 5,350,376 3,046,287 5,386,248 P57,798,121 1949 P 3,965,420 2,701,668 3,362,635 3,677,630 4,253,395 2,793,217 3,019,784 4,924,841 3,668,662 P32,367,252 Pl,897,454 of the suburban sales, or about one-half of the total. Owners of commercial properties are somewhat concerned over the threat of broader import control restrictions, fearing that if wholesale and retail mer chants dealing in imports are further restricted, many firm may be forced out of business. Apartment owners are also wondering whether more import con trol will cause an exodus of foreigners. As changes in the control regulations are still under study, the reaction of real estate owners seems to be one watch ful waiting. In general the tone of the real estate market is cheerful. Land values continue firm at about last year’s transaction levels. Buyers are plentiful with a greater tendency to bargaining. Port of Manila By Madox Brown Luzon Brokerage Company THERE has been a decline in waterfront activity during the past month proportionate to the drop in incoming cargo, due mainly to the re strictions of the Import Control which came into ef fect as from the beginning of the month. The num ber of vessels putting in at the piers has slackened off considerably and as a consequence the volume of business has shown a marked decrease. The falling curve of the graph can be gauged ap proximately in a comparison of the past three months with regard to total arrastre charges, marking 20% of the gross collection of the Philippine Ports Termi nal, which are as follows: June .......................................................... P173,103.80 July ........................................................... 164,143.65 August ....................................................... 163,037.07 Paradoxically, however, the total tonnage for August shows an increase over that of July. A breakdown of the figures shows: July Total tons handled on piers ................. P144,821.735 Total tons handled at shipside ............. 35,426.738 Total tons for July ............................... 180,248.473 August Total tons handled on piers ................. Pl57,903.429 Total tons handled at shipside .............. 36,502.029 Total tons for August ........................... 194,405,458 The apparent discrepancy in these figures can be explained in the fact that they include the amount of gasoline, kerosene, oil, cement, and rice coming into the country. The actual amount of purely commer cial cargo, however, definitely shows a decrease. As against the falling off in volume of business handled along the waterfront, there has been a decid ed improvement in handling conditions on the piers. Congestion, which has been the main bugbear in the past, it gradually being cut down and the work on the docks has been correspondingly easier. The im provement has been most noticeable on Pier 5, on which the greatest bulk of cargo is now being dis charged since Pier 13 has been virtually closed down for repair. One shed has already been completed on Pier 5 and work has been started on the second shed. One-way traffic has been instituted and cargo is be ing shifted at a faster pace now that the snarled-up .congestion of trucks has been brought under control. Work is coming on fast on Pier 9, which is pre sently under construction. It is understood that this pier will be ready to start operating by the end of the year. Pier 13 is presently under demolition and will be rebuilt entirely, the same as Pier 9. At the present time, only one ship at a time is allowed alongside this pier for unloading and loading. LABOR relations along the waterfront have been moderately peaceful during the past month. There was a short strike of the Checkers, which for tunately lasted only half a day. The case was im mediately referred to the Court of Industrial Rela tions, which ordered the men back to work. The point at issue involved the matter of payment, the steamship companies desiring to pay the men indivi dually while the Union insisted on the Checkers beingpaid through the Union. The question is still up for arbitration and no definite ruling has as yet been is sued. ONE bright feature has been the result of the campaign instigated by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce aimed at getting an improvement in the quality of packing for incoming cargo, especially car go coming from the United States. This campaign had its origin in the visit of several representatives of the San Francislo Chamber of Commerce to Manila last year for a trade conference held under the aus pices of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce. Among other issues decided at this conference was 442 October, 1949 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 443 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN MANILA: 1936 TO 1949 Compiled by the Bureau of the Census and Statistics from, data supplied by the City Engineer’s Office. MONTH 1 1936 1937 1 1938 1 1939 1 1940 1 1941 1 1945 I 1946 1 1947 1 1948 1 1949 1 (Value) |- (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) | (Value) January . P 540,030 P 426,230 P 694,180 P 463,430 Pl,124,550 P 891,140 P — P 1,662,245 P 3,645,970 P 6,571,660 P 4.807.320 February 720,110 479,810 434,930 1,063,950 1,025,920 671,120 467,790 — 2,509,170 3,270,150 3,398,910 6,827,005 7,286,630 March . . 411,680 396,890 1,300,650 662,840 641,040 — 3,040,010 7,498,560 8,100,700 April . . 735,220 659,680 770,130 1,029,310 962,420 408,640 462,020 3,125,180 8,295,640 5,564,870 7,370,292 5,558,245 May . . . 400,220 670,350 1,063,570 1,139,560 809,670 740,510 335,210 1,496,700 3,964,460 8,570,410 5,070,380 June . . . 827,130 459,360 754,180 542,730 418,700 . 2,444,070 3,904,450 5,898,580 10,217,840 4,809,250 July . . . 302,340 691,190 756,810 495,910 357,680 609,920 1,741,320 1,418,360 3,062,640 9,875,435 7,771,487 4,601,450 August . . 368,260 827,660 627,790 622,050 661,860 306,680 4,889,640 7,428,260 7,568,950 4,150,280 September 393,100 777,690 684,590 554,570 590,380 530,830 1,015,250 7,326,570 7,770,310 7,095,860 4,952,660 October . 663,120 971,780 718,190 645,310 738,700 699,040 639,030 4,630,550 6,747,240 7,088,283 5,368,800 November 460,720 320,890 972,310 461,580 485,100 315,930 1,364,310 4,373,390 3,424,125 December 648,820 849,160 503,230 1,105,910 333,490 67,553 1,605,090 5,034,600 4,924,320 4,507,580 Annual Total . P6,170,750 P7',530,690 P9,280,560 P9,053,250 P8,234,460 P5,692,273 P12,186,150 P47,526,905 P73,907,248 P82.792.569 P49,336,915 Average P 511,229 P 627,557 P 773,‘380 P 754,438 P 686,205 P 474,356 P 1,015,513 P 3,960,575 P 6,158,937 P 6,899,381 P 5,481,879 the decision to interest exporters in the United States in improving the packing of merchandise sent to the Philippines. According to various advices received from the Secretary of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the campaign has been pushed in the United States and some apparently good results have been obtained. A questionnaire is presently being circularized among local customs brokers and local importers with the idea of determining whether there has been any resultant improvement in packing. Judging from the answers that are beginning to come in, the results are in the main satisfactory. The efforts of the Philippine Chamber of Com merce in this direction are to be highly commended. The type of packing for merchandise being sent here from the United States has been totally inadequate to meet the conditions prevailing on the piers since the war. It was especially noticeable that the type of packing for merchandise coming from the United States was far inferior to the packing that emanated ATLANTIC, GULF & PACIFIC CO. OF MANILA FOR 48 YEARS THE GREATEST NAME IN ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERS CONTRACTORS MANUFACTURERS SPECIALIZING IN THE FABRICATION AND ERECTION OF BRIDGES, TANKS AND BUILDINGS Operating : MACHINE SHOPS FOR CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS FOUNDRY FOR CAST IRON, BRASS & BRONZE STEEL PLATE & STRUCTURAL STEEL SHOPS MARINE REPAIR SHOPS WOOD PRESERVING PLANT Distributors tor: Allen-Bradley Company American Blower Cor poration Armco International Cor poration Armstrong Machine Works Chain Belt Co. of Mil waukee Cherry - Burrell Corpora tion Coffing Hoist Company Dempster Brothers, Inc. Dodge Manufacturing Company Fairbanks, Morse & Co lne. Firth-Sterling Steel Com pany Gardner - Denver Com pany Gar - Bro Manufacturing Company Johnson Service Com pany Lincoln Electric Com pany McCray Refrigerator Com pany Marion Power Shovel Company Mystik Adhesive Pro ducts Pioneer Engineering Works, Inc. Smith Welding Equipment Corp. Staples & Pfeiffer Tube Turns, Inc. Walsh Refractories Cor poration Western Brass Works Western Rock Bit Mfg. Co. York Corporation MERCHANDISE SALES DIVISION Robert Dollar Bldg., Muelle del San Francisco & 23rd Street, Port Area, Manila Tela.: 2-83-64 • 2-84-82 EXECUTIVE OFFICES • ENGINEERING DIVISION STRUCTURAL & MACHINE SHOPS Barrio Punta, Santa Ana, Manila Tela.: 6-75-31 • 6-75-32 • 6-75-33 444________________■ AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL____________October, 1949 from Europe, and especially Great Britain. The per centage of smashed and Bad Order cargo arriving from the United States was out of all proportion to that coming from the European countries. As a direct consequence, there was a very high rate of pilferage of this merchandise and an unne cessary loss of time and money was imposed on the local importers. Added to which, laborers on the piers worked under insuperable difficulties in their endeavors to save as much of the broken cargo as pos sible for the unfortunate importers. With an im provement in packing, the pilferage on the docks will be cut down greatly and at the same time work will be vastly simplified. At the time of writing, speculation is rife along the waterfront as to the possible effect of the deva luation of the Pound Sterling on local imports and ex ports, but it is obviously too early to be able to ha zard any kind of an accurate guess as to what the ef fects will be. A crystal ball might be of some help, but incoming cargoes have so far been singularly lacking with regard to this particular commodity. Ocean Shipping By F. M. Gispert Secretary, Associated Steamship Lines THE general trend of increased total exports was maintained during the month of August, as compared with August last year, due mainly to an increase in ore exports over last year. Ninety-seven vessels during last August lifted 162,829 tons, as against 84 ships and 107,825 tons during August last year. Exports of the main commodities during August of this year, as compared with the same month last year, are as follows: fecc Alcohol .................. 1.94 9 27 tons 1W 108 tons Coconut, desiccated . 8,090 ” 8,801 ” 3,095 ” Coconut oil ............ Concentrates, 5,300 ” copper ............... Concentrates, 2,924 ” 127 ” gold .................... 520 ” 41 ” Copra .................... 62,190 ” 37,114 ” Copra cake/meal .. 6,541 ” 2,215 ’’ Embroideries ........ 133 ” 138 ” Empty cylinders . . 235 ” 244 ” Fish, salted — dried 43 ” 3 ” Furniture, rattan . 251 ” 511 ” Gums, copal ......... 50 ” 86 ” Hemp .................... 33,108 bales 32,402 bales Hemp, knotted .... 14 tons 1 tons Household goods .. 166 ” 97 ” Junk, metal .......... 380 ” 8,557 ” Kapok ................... 25 ” 74 ” Logs ....................... 3,497,563 board 1,072,748 ” feet 1,241,330 board 1,651,839 ” Lumber ................. Molasses ................ 504 tons _ Ores, chrome ........ 26,000 ” 15,500 tons ” iron ............ 25,052 ” — ” manganese 1,000 ” — Pineapples, canned. 3,976 ” 1,017 ” Rattan, Palasan .. 28 ” 179 ” Rope ...................... 288 ” 362 ” Rubber .................. 71 ’’ 146 ” Shells .................... 34 ” 25 " Skins, hides .......... 41 ” 18 ” Sugar, raw ........... 3,398 ” 15,105 ” Tobacco ................ 319 ” — ELECTRIC LOAD HANDLINGCorner Tacoma & Second Streets, Port Area, Manila Telephones: 2-67-47, 2-68-48 & 2-67-59 WORKS Branch nt B A C O L O D, Occidental Negros Many users report savings as high as 50 in their handling costs — thanks to P&II Ilevi-Lift Hoist. These wide-awake businessmen take advantage of electric power for quick lifting. . . carrying. . . lo wering and placing of heavy loads — up to 15 tons — all without rehandling. Why not sec how you can make such savings in time and money? See your local dis tributors. The P&H Hen-Lift • Capacities up to 15 tons. • Operates on hook, jib or trolley. • Available for AC or DC current. ELECTRIC HOIS1 Main Otfcw and PItnl: Milwaukee 14. Wb.. U.S.A.
pages: 442-444