Hundreds of trucks and delivery vans created a 7.6-kilometer-long traffic jam along Roxas Boulevard from Port Area, Manila to Buendia, Pasay City Friday after Manila South Harbor was closed due to bad weather.
The Philippine Ports Authority ordered Asian Terminal Inc., operator of the Manila South Harbor, not to allow trucks to enter the terminal even if their Terminal Appointment Booking System or TABS has been confirmed for Friday afternoon.
“The PPA has suspended TABS at the Manila South Harbor as inclement weather brought by Typhoon “Hanna” has enhanced monsoon rains,” PPA General Manager Jay Santiago said in a radio interview.
Asian Terminals, the private operator of POM, was instructed to call those that had bookings for Friday afternoon to turn around as ports are able to accommodate those that are already in the area.
Santiago said their operations were on “stop and go” basis due to the bad weather.
“The operations were not stopped. The port operates 24 hours but the problem was the bad weather. We cannot operate the equipment and the cranes because of strong winds,” he said.
Santiago said they were doing this for safety reasons.
The ATI said the Manila South Harbor has experienced intermittent operational disruptions since late Thursday night.
Wind speeds of 16 meters per second drive the port cranes to a full stop, the PPA said.
But truck operators complained that they will have to pay the P3,000 penalty for not showing up at the port and additional P2,000 for the delay.
“Actually, there was no advance notice to us to stop operations,” said Ruperto Bayocot, chairman of the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines, adding “the advance notice should be issued a day or 12 hours ahead.”
Bayocot appealed to port operators to waive the penalty for trucks with TABS that were not allowed entry during that day.
Manila Mayor Franciso “Isko” Domagoso said the city would shut down port operations if truckers would not comply with traffic regulations.
Motorists plying Manila’s streets were advised to avoid Roxas Boulevard, R10 and other roads leading to the Port of Manila due to the massive traffic jam.
The mayor also asked truck drivers to avoid completing their journey towards the pier if they were still outside the city. With PNA