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AFTER
the increase of the price of diesel over the weekend,
trucker groups at the Manila North Harbor are set to
slap a surcharge on their clients this week, while cargo
carrier MCC Transport Pilipinas will implement a rate
increase by the middle of next month.
Members
of the Integrated North Harbor Truckers Association (INHTA)
said they will implement a 10-percent surcharge within
the week after the P3-per-liter increase in diesel
prices over the weekend.
On
Sunday oil companies gave in to a Malacañang request for
a P1.50-per- liter increase in the price of diesel.
Earlier
this month, the group, composed of other smaller
organizations of truckers, implemented a 7-percent
general rate increase.
“I think
this is better now. If diesel price increased by P5 per
liter, we automatically increase the rate by P153.35
plus the value-added tax [VAT] per standard 20-footer
[container],” INHTA president Catalino Costales said.
He added
that the truckers are already dropping their proposal to
increase their rates by 8 percent, but will instead slap
a surcharge once fuel prices escalate. Truckers have a
hard time increasing their rates since they have to
consult many parties such as their clients and the
shipping lines.
“We
already informed the Philippine Liner Shipping
Association [PLSA] about this, as well as our decision
to stick to their approved rates and totally drop our
earlier proposal of an 8-percent general rate increase
by next month,” Costales said.
Originally, INHTA members planned to slap a P284
recovery surcharge for 10-footer containers, P405
surcharge for 20-footers and P688.50 for 40-footers or
tandem scheme within the 40-kilometer radius roundtrip
service exclusive of the VAT by August. The rates for
different types of cargo vary.
On the
other hand, cargo carrier MCC Transport Philippines Inc.
announced it also will implement a rate increase that it
calls a “rate-restoration initiative” for its Philippine
domestic service effective August 15.
MCC,
which has two vessels, said the increase is in response
to the escalating variable costs, particularly the
expenses related to bunker and other vessel-related
costs.
The rate
increase will translate to about P4,000 per standard
20-foot container applicable to all its ports of call
such as Manila, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Davao and
General Santos.
MCC is a
joint venture between MCC Transport Singapore Pte. Ltd.,
which holds a controlling stake of 40 percent, and the
rest of the shares are owned by Aboitiz Transport System
Corp. and Mercantile Ocean Maritime Co.
Other
cargo carriers such as National Marine, Oceanic, Solid
Shipping, Sulpicio Lines Inc., Negros Navigation Co. and
Lorenzo Shipping Co., which are all members of the PLSA,
have increased their general rates by an average of 10
percent in June to offset costs related to fuel.
The
operators are also increasing their bunker surcharges by
about 8 percent every time diesel price increases by 10
percent. |
