The Philippine Cold Chain Roadmap has been launched with the primary objective “to guide the industry in the coming years and adapt to the “new normal” situation.”This is the offshoot of the collective efforts made by various industry stakeholders that started in 2019. The Board of Investments (BOI) together with the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CCAP) and Department of Agriculture (DA), other concerned government agencies, and private individuals collaborated to showcase the following: where the industry is at present, where the industry would like to go, and what are the plans to get there to sufficiently meet local demand and customer requirements and empower the industry.
Continue reading Roadmap launched to empower Philippine cold chain industry
ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) Secretary-General Fujita Masataka reported that many countries had felt disruptions of supply chains in this time of the pandemic. Hence the series of calls at the international and regional level for strengthening and rebuilding of value chains such that of the G20 Actions to support world trade and investment in response to COVID19 on 14 May 2020, and the Hanoi Plan of Action on Strengthening ASEAN Economic Cooperation and Supply Chain Connectivity in Response to the COVID19 pandemic on 19 June 2020. 
DICT responds to the need for an abrupt shift for Digitalization pushed by the global health crisis brought by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The majority of businesses are currently leveraging the use of online platforms to continue their market. As part of the new normal adaptation, online platforms are an excellent measure to sustain their market demand.
Export Boost is to be expected from the recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It will broaden trade in goods and services, deepening economic integration among the 10 Southeast Asian countries, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. By far, this is the world’s largest trading agreement bloc covering 30% of the global economic output in the coming years.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is working with banks on the standardization of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) loan application process. BSP is also developing the concept note and draft standard loan application form. This initiative aims to streamline/ lessen the requirements of financial institutions and provide more access to MSMEs.
The legislation creating the Philippine Transportation Safety Board is nearing enactment after hurdling the House Appropriation Committee on Wednesday, 18 November 2020. The bill was previously approved jointly by the Transportation and Government Reorganization Committees. The Senate has earlier approved its version on the third and final reading.
Ms. Marilyn Alberto of the Philippine Multimodal Transport and Logistics Assoc., Inc. (PMTLAI) said that the law of supply and demand affects airfreight pricing especially at this time of pandemic as flight frequency has been reduced. Following are some tips given by Ms. Alberto to ensure efficient shipping by air amid challenges:
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) presented their proposed arrastre, stevedoring, and storage rates for out-of-gauge (OOG) cargoes, and arrastre rates for empty foreign containers during their 1 October 2020 public hearing.