(Bloomberg) -- Thousands of containers have been left unclaimed at the Philippine capital's main port as the lockdown stalls cargo movement and prevents most businesses from opening.
There are nearly 36,800 twenty-foot equivalent units of imports left in the Manila International Container Terminal as of March 27, a 66% jump from roughly 22,000 TEUs before the capital and the rest of the Luzon region went on quarantine, according to International Container Terminal Services, Inc.
“Containers are simply not being removed from the terminal,” ICTSI said on Friday. It warned “we will come to a point when efficient operations will no longer be possible.”
The lockdown has disrupted supply chains across the main Philippine island at a time when the government is seeking to ensure enough food and basic goods amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Some checkpoints in Metro Manila are blocking the entry of food cargo and workers, even though these are exempted from the quarantine measures, Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año told radio station DZBB. There are 8,200 cleared containers sitting in the Manila terminal and waiting for pick up, many of them food containers, ICTSI said.
Philippines Steps Up Food Sufficiency Measures Amid Lockdown (1)
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- The Bureau of Customs is transferring 4,000 unclaimed containers from Manila to nearby terminals to help unclog the Philippines' largest port, it said in a statement on Monday.
- The port operator owned by billionaire Enrique Razon also offered its facilities in Laguna, Bulacan and Cavite provinces for importers unable to take cargo deliveries at this time.
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