TIM eMagazine Issue 1 | Page 19

TIM eMagazine Vol.1 Issue 1 Clark ecozone puts up container yard to ease Manila port congestion The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA)administered Clark Development Corporation (CDC) opens up the Clark Freeport Zone for the establishment of a container yard that will help decongest the Manila port. B CDA president Arnel Paciano D. Casanova said CDC and Lina-led CargoHaus Inc. have inked a lease agreement to put up a threehectare container yard in Clark Freeport which can accommodate around 20,000 shipping containers. The container yard in Clark Freeport can accept empty containers from other ports such as the Manila Port and other ports in Northern and Central Luzon. “The container yard in Clark Freeport will help ease congestion in the Manila ports and at the same time help Central Luzon Special Economic Zone locators achieve cost efficient movement of goods,” said Casanova. “The action taken by CDC president Arthur Tugade is commendable as it will greatly contribute to uplift our economy,” he added. He noted that it is the first container yard being established inside a special economic zone. BCDA also said the container yard in Clark Freeport will help to clear up some roads of Metro Manila that are used as parking spaces for empty shipping containers which triggered heavy traffic situation in the metropolis. The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) recently said the number of empty containers clogging the Manila port is now declining. The Manila port congestion, which started since the later part of 2013, was aggravated by the extended truck ban implemented by the city government of Manila. Two months ago, a total of 99,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers were piled up at the Manila Port. Empty containers also reached up to 22,000 TEUs. (PNA) 19