BIMP-Eaga News: Transport & Logistics

Asean SRNH may be more viable than BIMP-Eaga

Expanding the local system of roll-on, roll-off ports to Southeast Asia may be more viable for an archipelagic country like the Philippines than with those of the subregional trade bloc with oil producing nations like Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, a logistics expert said.

According to EnricoBasilio, director of CRC Transport and Logistics Institute, expanding the country’s Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) to Asean countries can benefit the Philippines since the country is strategically located right in the middle of almost every country in the region.

“This is just a concept. We haven’t done the real analysis yet but I think this should be more viable for us,” Basilio said.

The concept of expanding the SRNH to the Asean region was brought up by Paul Apthorp of TNT Worldwide Express and presented during the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) conference in November last year.

Aphthorp said due to the extensive road network in Mekong subregion and cross-border trade in Thailand, Vietnam, China, Laos the Philippines can also benefit in the transshipment. The operation of TNT in the Philippines is struggling as its strategy was to use road networks rather than air links that the bigger logistics firms like UPS, DHL, and Fedex have been employing for the past years.

“If the international ships pass by our country, we can earn revenues from the “pass-through” activities, benefiting our ports and trucking industry, as well as creating value adding activities,” Basilio said.

Basilio estimates that if the Philippines can only get at least 10 million of the 60 million containers carried by vessels in the region in a year. “We have so many potentials of benefiting from the overseas shipping,” he said.

At the moment, the country is a member of the four-nation BIMP-Eaga (Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area), but trade has hardly picked up after more than 14 years in existence.