The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) is in talks with German and French boat builders to consider the Philippines as a manufacturing hub for vessels for export to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member-countries.
In a press conference on January 28, ECCP vice president Martial Beck said the country has the location and workforce to become a European shipbuilding enclave.
The Philippines is the world’s fourth largest shipbuilder and is home to major shipbuilding companies such as Japan’s Tsuneishi and South Korea’s Hanjin.
The Maritime Industry Authority’s (MARINA) goal in 2016 is for the country to be a major center for ship building and ship repair (SBSR).
As of August last year, MARINA has listed 238 companies engaged in SBSR.
Of the total, 150 are registered within Metro Manila and the northern part of Luzon, while 88 companies are located in Batangas, Legaspi, Iloilo, Cebu, Zamboanga, Cagayan, Davao, and General Santos.
Boat builder Headsail president Angelo Olondriz said the country is missing out on potential growth for the industry due to high taxes and the absence of standards to guide boat builders.
To overcome these challenges, Olondriz, along with the ECCP and architect and urban planner Felino Palafox, Jr., requested the government to lower the import duties on boats and leisure watercraft.
The group noted that the yacht industry in Phuket, Thailand boomed after the country scrapped the luxury import tax in 2003. Thailand’s cruise industry has also turned into a 1-billion-baht (US$37 million) industry in less than 10 years.
Moreover, the group also requested a government review of the cabotage, or the policy that prohibits foreign carriers to enter into the Philippine shipping market.
Palafox said, “If government relaxes the rules, it will help not just for tourism but will improve our logistics cost. The logistics cost of bringing in goods via sea is at 30% of the commodity.”
Reforms in the country’s cabotage policy, Beck said, will not only spur commercial services and transport of goods, but also the country’s tourism industry.
“We want to position the Philippines as the Caribbean of the Far East,” Beck said. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
