Business groups on Wednesday said they welcomed the implementation of a dedicated express lane for trucks going to and from the Port of Manila, but lamented that the truck ban had spawned more problems for businesses, including "opportunistic" truckers that charge extra fees.

"The 24­hour Express Hade Lane for trucks is a good development, but we still have to decongest Manila," Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PhilExport) president Sergio R. Ortiz­Luiz Jr. said in a telephone interview.

The national government earlier pitched to the private sector the round-the-clock express lane for trucks that pass through the cities of Manila, Caloocan, Pasay, Makati and Paranaque, while the city government of Manila itself has ratified the scheme on top of the designated truck routes under its daytime truck ban.

The express lane for containerized trailer trucks runs through the innermost north and southbound lanes of Roxas Boulevard all the way to Anda Circle, as well as the outermost north and south­bound lanes from Anda Circle up to R­10.

In an advisory published in newspapers early this week, Trade Undersecretary for consumer protection Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) "encourages all industries and warehouse owners/operators to cooperate in decongesting the port by opening their business operations and warehouses to accept deliveries of goods at night time and weekends."

However, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) executive vice president Henry J. Schumacher said new problems had been cropping up alongside the truck ban in Manila, which not even putting in place an express lane would solve.

"We are now concerned with a DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications] policy on truck number plates to be introduced in the next few days, which would severely reduce the availability of trucks and consequently undermine the good cooperation with the city of Manila and MMDA [Metropolitan Manila Development Authority] to decongest the Manila ports and improve the accessibility," Schumacher said in a text message.

Ortiz­Luis, meanwhile, disclosed that as more exporters increasingly tap the Batangas port to avoid the congested Port of Manila, a number of local government units (LGUs) en route to the port down south have jacked up fees slapped on truckers seeking access to their roads.

For Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president Alfredo M. Yao, the logistics problems being caused by the Manila truck ban had also made truckers "opportunistic" and "greedy"

In a telephone interview, Yao accused truckers of taking advantage of the congestion at the Port of Manila.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12 June 2014