THE Aboitiz group, whose business interests include banking, energy, and transport, said it is not interested in operating the Batangas Port, which is currently being geared to become an alternative to facilities in Manila.

Although the group intends to call at the Batangas Port once proper equipment are installed, an Aboitiz executive said that the cargo handling business, which falls under port operations, is below the group’s radar screen for the moment.

“MCC Transport is interested for their container vessels coming in from the south to pass by the Batangas Port,” Enrique M. Aboitiz Jr., Aboitiz Transport System Corp.’s (ATSC) chief executive officer, said during the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting last week. MCC Transport Singapore, a unit of A. P. Moeller-Maersk, is an ATSC partner, together Mercantile Ocean Maritime Co. (Filipinas) Inc. which intends to catch freight revenues lost by the sale of two SuperFerry vessels, operated by ATSC.

Aboitiz stressed that the joint venture, which will use new ships, requires modern facilities.

The ships “cannot afford to have shipping down time,” he said, adding that the vessels “would just want to unload and go.” “If they have the time to pass the Batangas they would like to pass to Batangas, however, we cannot do that until the government modernizes the port.”

While the Aboitiz group owns 33 percent of the joint venture, MCC Transport holds 40 percent, and the remaining 27 percent belongs to Mercantile Ocean.

Aboitiz said they would start calling on the Mindanao Container Terminal, temporarily operated by Phividec Industrial Authority, by next month.

For its part, Philippine Ports Authority intends to privatize the cargo handling operations during the first half of the year although the necessary cargo handling equipment would be installed later in the year.

The second phase of the Batangas Port, which was funded by official development assistance from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, consists of dredging and reclamation, construction of two foreign container cargo berths, reconstruction of the general cargo berth at the first phase area with provision for stacking yard, container freight station, terminal building, utilities, access road, and other support facilities.

Asian Terminals Inc. has secured a contract to manage the first phase and the temporary permit to operate the second phase since September 2005.

THE Philippine government ignored requests to reduce scanning fees for twenty-foot metal boxes—which contain imported goods and raw materials to be sold and processed by local businesses—asserting that the Bureau of Customs has secured an enabling law to impose such charges.

THE Aboitiz group, whose business interests include banking, energy, and transport, said it is not interested in operating the Batangas Port, which is currently being geared to become an alternative to facilities in Manila.