Philippine local shipping firms cut bunker surcharge

For the second time this year, shipping companies operating in the domestic trade are reducing their bunker surcharge, the Maritime Industry Administration said. Starting March 16, 2009, the bunker surcharge will be reduced by 10.41 percent. It may be recalled that on February 1, 2009 a 19.67 percent cut was implemented by shipping companies such as Lorenzo Shipping Corp., Negros Shipping Co., NMC Container Lines Inc., Oceanic Container Lines Inc., Solid Shipping Lines Corp. and Sulpicio Lines Inc. These same shipping companies will be implementing the second cut this month.
The shipping routes that will benefit from this reduced charge are the long haul routes such as Manila-Visayas (Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete Tacloban), Manila-Mindanao (Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Cotabato Gen. Santos, Davao, Surigao) and Visayas-Mindanao.