DoTr to sanction shipping line for overloading

THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) is set to investigate and impose sanctions on a ship bound for Romblon for violating overloading policy, the Transportation chief said.

“The investigation is ongoing, [the shipping line is] bound for Romblon from Batangas. They were discovered by the coast guard,” Transportation Secretary Vivencio B. Dizon said on Monday.

The DoTr will not yet identify the shipping line involved pending investigation, Mr. Dizon said, adding that the agency will impose sanctions on those shipping lines that will violate anti-overloading policy.

“[The shipping line] oversold tickets way beyond their capacity limit,” he said.

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is projecting to see higher passenger volume at the country’s seaports this Holy Week at 1.73 million expected passengers.

Last month alone, the port regulator said it had logged a passenger count of 3.03 million for the first three weeks of March or an average of 1.01 million passengers per week.

For the April 14 to 20 period, PPA is projecting passengers at seaports to rise by 3.5% to 1.73 million from the 1.67 million passengers reported in the same period last year.

PPA said the DoTr is preparing for the expected surge with the deployment of additional personnel.  For this year, PPA has set its 2025 passenger volume target at 85.41 million, exceeding by 9.5% the target set in 2024.

At the country’s main gateway, the DoTr earlier projected between 155,000 to 157,000 passengers per day at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) during the Holy Week.

The project number of passengers this year is 6.8% higher than the recorded 145,000 passengers per day last year.

In a statement, the New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) said it is expecting to see a total of 1.18 million passengers this week, 14.23% higher than the 1.04 million last year.

The private operator of NAIA is also expecting to see an increase in flight movements to 6,724 this year from the recorded 6,537 last year. — Ashley Erika O. Jose