Under the Philippine Port Authority (PPA)'s new terminal management framework, a couple of operators clinched 15-year management contracts for nine ports worth over P11 billion.
The first bid winner, Prudential Customs Brokerage Services Inc. (PCBSI) secured the contracts for five ports. These include the P1.663 billion contract for the Puerto Princesa port; the P1.495 billion contract for the Calapan port as well as the P850 million and the P560,000 contracts for Ormoc and Legaspi ports.
The PCBSI also won the bid for the Tabaco, Albay port although the PPA has not yet published the notice of award to date.
The second bid winner, the joint venture of Harbour Center Port Holdings Inc. and ZC Integrated Port Services Inc. ( ZCIPSI) of Zamboanga, won the contracts for four ports.
These include the P2.503 billion contract for Zamboanga port; the P1.758 billion contract for Tacloban port; the P1.575 billion contract for Ozamiz port as well as the P1.008 billion contract for the Iligan port.
The PPA declared a failed bidding for the port management contract of Matnog, Sorsogon after one of the three prospective bidders withdrew and the others did not submit bid documents.
Last year, the PPA started bidding out the 15 port management contracts under a new guideline, Administrative Order (AO) Number 12-2018, as amended.
The objective is to involve the private sector in managing the ports to upgrade their quality of service to global standards.
The ports were classified into six tiers, from fully PPA-managed to fully private concessions.
And instead of being investment-based, with concessions depending on the number of facilities which operators bring in, the concessions are now performance-based.