‘We don’t want conflict in West PH Sea’ - says shipping firm | Business and Politics - video Dailymotion

The Manila Times

‘We don’t want conflict in West PH Sea’ - says shipping firm | Business and Politics  Patrick Ronas, president and CEO of Mstar Ship Agencies Inc. and Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL), says that conflict in the West Philippine Sea will disrupt the shipping industry. But Ronas adds that he does not see conflict erupting anytime soon.  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes

Transcript

00:00 Sir, the President, when he talked about the State of the Nation address a few weeks ago,

00:06 he said that there are still a number of external factors.

00:10 You mentioned Ukraine a while ago as one of those external factors that had an impact.

00:17 What else are you looking at, maybe outside the Philippines first, that you think could

00:22 have an impact on shipping and logistics here in the Philippines?

00:27 Well, of course, usually the price of fuel is still a factor.

00:33 Although there are international pricing that happens because we're international.

00:42 But then again, locally, we need support.

00:47 We need support vessels to help us, like tugboats, crew boats, and they consume fuel.

00:56 So that adds on fuel as well.

01:03 Our domestic shipping market is also getting hit.

01:06 I think it needs a bit of a push, not only in terms of financial, but also on some of

01:14 the regulatory things.

01:18 Because as you well know, we're 7,100 islands, we need to use the sea in order to be able

01:25 to cross borders and bring trade around.

01:29 China, the issue with China is still very, very important.

01:38 The economy of China needs to be very slow again as well, because the markets where they

01:44 sell is also very slow.

01:45 I'm not an economist, but you know how it is.

01:48 Right now we're veering over, our relationship I think is veering towards the US, and the

01:53 US is not also doing very good as of the moment.

01:57 It is an export market.

02:00 We would like them to pick up, so that we can get our exporters to also sell their products.

02:10 The more we export, the more we import, the better for the Filipino people.

02:14 Are you worried about what's going on in the West Philippine Sea?

02:18 How significant is that to your business?

02:21 Not just the actual potential conflict itself, but just even the military exercises.

02:33 Does that worry you at all?

02:35 Well, no.

02:36 I don't think it's ... You know we're businessmen.

02:40 Shipping lines or ship owners are basically businessmen, and we don't want conflict in

02:45 any way.

02:46 We don't want conflict in any way.

02:48 That's the farthest thing in our minds, if that happens.

02:51 But eventually that happens, it's going to be bad for us, because the West Philippine

02:55 Sea is where a lot of ships fly, that's where we move.

03:00 We can't go around, go through the east.

03:04 That's very far.

03:05 I mean, how can you have access to Manila?

03:07 You have to go down the Dicol and cross.

03:11 So right now, as far as that is concerned, sure, we're praying that it doesn't happen.

03:17 I don't think we can see something erupting in the near term, I guess.

03:21 At the end of the day, it's a major superpower, so we'll decide this in the end.

03:28 But right now, you're not affected?

03:30 There's no harassment of private vessels?

03:34 No.

03:35 No.

03:36 We're not feeling that.

03:38 What about the domestic issues?

03:40 I mean, there are a number of things going on.

03:41 Of course, we ratified RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

03:47 The EU is talking about maybe negotiating a free trade with the Philippines.

03:54 Is that going to help your industry?

03:55 That's very good news.

03:56 What will be the impact?

03:57 Yeah, that will be very good news.

04:00 Means there's going to be more trade, so the more trade, the more we carry.

04:05 So that's very much welcome.

04:08 I guess that puts us in the future trading partners or ease of trading, helps the country.

04:20 So we buy more, we sell more, then we carry more.

04:25 You see, 90% of everything clings.

04:27 So we need that.

04:28 We need that actually to boost our feeds.

04:31 But one concern that we have now, which is surprisingly, the past couple of weeks has

04:37 been a very hot topic, is the reclamation.

04:41 You see--

04:42 That's interesting that it also affects you.

04:45 In hindsight, of course it does, because you passed through that area, right?

04:48 Yeah, we passed through that area.

04:50 Well, it's on the western side.

04:52 And right now what's happening is that if you go to a big chain of hotels, right there

05:00 in Roscoe Boulevard, all of a sudden you go there, Sofitel, you go to Seascape, and

05:06 all of a sudden you see it's no longer the sea, it's land.

05:11 And then, sure, from an ordinary layman, you think there's nothing really happening that's

05:17 bad out there.

05:18 It's supposed to-- but mind you, we're not against progress.

05:21 If it's something that needs to be done, then--

05:23 Sure.

05:24 And if it will help the economy, sure, go for it.

05:27 But I think there needs to be careful planning, because you have two ports.

05:31 You have the South Harbor, or Asian Terminals, or South Harbor, as you call it, or the Port

05:35 of Manila.

05:36 And then on the other side you have MICT.

05:39 Right now what we're seeing is that the ports are going to be affected in some way, because

05:44 as you recover land, eventually the usual freeway, or the usual way where you go and

05:53 dock your ships will be affected.

05:55 So what does it mean?

05:56 You either turn around, or you go through a narrow channel, because both parts have

06:00 already--

06:01 Been reclaimed, or they're affected by the reclamation.

06:03 Yeah, already affected by the reclamation.

06:06 What does this mean?

06:07 This will mean that our ships will now have to be boarded by pilots.

06:11 You see?

06:12 I see.

06:13 Pilotage is mandatory in the Philippines.

06:14 And that's for safety, because you have to protect the terminal.

06:19 It has to be driven, or parang kotse.

06:23 Right.

06:24 It has to be driven by an experienced pilot.

06:25 Someone has to park it.

06:26 Yeah.

06:27 Kahit nakapikip si mata niya, eh.

06:28 Kaya niya iparada yung barko.

06:29 So since there's going to be a channel, it's going to be more expensive for ships to go,

06:35 to dock.

06:36 So again, higher cost.

06:39 And then there are anchorage areas, because nagkakaroon ka na ng reclamation in a certain

06:45 area, it's going to be pushed back.

06:47 What does it mean?

06:48 It means the doctors, you have a quarantine doctor who clears the vessel before it arrives,

06:56 because it's coming from another country.

06:57 The quarantine doctors need to check if everybody's okay, or not carrying any disease, or whatever.

07:02 So they do that.

07:04 And let the pilots go on board.

07:06 So kun dati, isang oras to get to...

07:10 Because you're farther away now.

07:12 Farther away, yeah.

07:13 Three hours away.

07:14 So there's going to be additional cost.

07:16 There's going to be additional cost involved.

07:18 Has there been any dialogue or attempt to reach out to the shipping and logistics industry

07:24 to make sure that the reclamations are well designed so that it's optimal?

07:30 Unfortunately not.

07:31 I think in the previous, not in the previous administration, but in the administration

07:36 previous to that, during the time of GM Boyce Santa Anna at that time, there was some dialogue.

07:46 But we only heard of only one consultation that we had concerning one project.

07:55 But then apparently there are about-

07:56 But there's many now.

07:57 There's several.

07:58 Twenty-four, I guess.

07:59 Twenty-four, about, or twenty-six already.

08:00 There's quite a few, yeah.

08:01 But we were never consulted.

08:03 So we don't know.

08:04 And now all of these things are happening.

08:06 So we were just waiting for time, making sure that we have the right numbers or the right

08:11 costing exercise to do.

08:15 To then eventually approach government and tell them, look, it's going to affect us this

08:18 way, can we do a dialogue and we do something about the placement?

08:22 At least the way they design it, right?

08:24 Yeah, the way they design it.

08:25 We do it shorter, as long as.

08:28 And I think we have to get the terminals on board as well on this one because what's going

08:33 to happen here is that the Philippines or Manila ports becomes a little bit more expensive

08:40 for the shipping line to hold on because of this added cost.

08:44 And shipping lines do their budget, they usually do their budgets at the end of the year.

08:48 But now this is going to happen in the middle and peak season is going to come.

08:51 Right.

08:52 I said the bare months.

08:53 When you were referring to the terminals, you're talking to MICT and ATI, right?

08:58 Yes.

08:59 We should be speaking to them and ask them, look, what do you think?

09:02 Because we need their opinion.

09:03 They're also the terminals that are going to affect them.

09:06 So we have to share information on how best to handle this.

09:11 Do you guys have a position paper or maybe have you made an attempt to reach out to them?

09:15 None yet.

09:16 I think the DNR secretary said she was going to look at it, but purely on an environmental

09:21 viewpoint.

09:22 But no one's thought about maybe from a transportation or logistics standpoint.

09:27 Not yet.

09:28 And that's our homework now.

09:32 Try to get in there, try to give our opinion on what's the effect on logistics or what's

09:37 the effect on shipping.

09:39 So we hope that hopefully we get to be heard.

09:47 Because definitely there's going to be an effect on our part.

09:50 Expenses will shoot up because why at our expense or why at the people's expense?

09:55 Sure.

09:56 Anything else?

09:57 So maybe on the part about ease of doing business.

10:01 Is there anything else on that front that should be addressed?

10:05 I'm not so sure how the procurement, or sorry, not the procurement, but how to the process

10:09 of coming up with something like a permit as far as the PRA is concerned.

10:20 But I guess there's going to be somebody who's going to, or some government agency will take

10:26 a look.

10:27 Like you mentioned, the DNR wants to get in there.

10:29 You have Senator Cynthia Villar, always had that concern the longest time.

10:33 She's been always against reclamation.

10:35 So I'm sure usually what happens, the Senate will say, "Are there anybody else who are

10:42 affected here?"

10:43 So then that's the time you start.

10:45 Or you can write them a position paper, "Hey, we heard you're talking about this.

10:49 Maybe can we be heard?

10:52 We have our concerns."

10:54 What was that facility that was developed in Cavite?

10:56 I think that was where they were using it to store containers.

11:02 That was a new thing before the pandemic, right?

11:05 Oh, that's the Cavite Gateway.

11:08 I think you're talking about how that helps also decongest the port area, right?

11:13 Oh yeah, that will help.

11:14 But I guess the point is-

11:15 It's a good thing that you pointed it out.

11:16 Because with the reclamation-

11:17 Correct.

11:18 Well, now we have to, maybe what will happen now, instead of them going coastal, they might

11:24 have to go-

11:25 They have to go around.

11:26 They have to go around the open sea before.

11:27 I'll check on that as to how things are happening with that one.

11:33 But for sure, that will be affected as well.

11:34 Yeah.

11:42 Yeah.

11:43 Yeah.

11:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

‘We don’t want conflict in West PH Sea’ - says shipping firm | Business and Politics

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