By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said logistics providers have agreed to hold their prices steady for the time being while the San Juanico Bridge is being rehabilitated.

“(The logistics providers) have signified that they will not increase prices to move goods,” Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina A. Roque said on the sidelines of the launch of the Supply Chain and Logistics Center on Wednesday.

“It is normal to have delays, but at least the supply chain and logistics companies are getting together to really help move the goods,” she added.

Last week, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. declared a state of calamity in the Eastern Visayas for about a year to facilitate the repair of the bridge and mitigate disruption on the economies of Samar and Leyte.

“We follow the mandate of our president to make sure that basic necessities and prime commodities will not increase in price, and the logistics companies have also expressed their support (in not imposing) price increases,” Ms. Roque added.

Asked to comment, Fast Logistics Group Chief Executive Officer for Logistics Manuel L. Onrejas, Jr. said that the compromised state of the bridge has doubled the cost for logistics companies.

“As a logistics company, we must take care of the costs first. What we will do is negotiate with our principal because the cost is really double or even triple,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

He said that the additional costs are due to the need to handle goods multiple times across multiple vehicles to comply with the three-ton limit imposed on bridge users.

“We have to break up the goods and then use L300 vans. So it is tough. In fact, we brought so many L300s from Manila and Cebu just to rescue our Tacloban branch,” he said.

He said the Tacloban branch has experienced backlogs of two to three weeks, which the company plans to bring down over the next three days.

“Our operations will be normalized by then, and we can serve the market better,” he added.

To assist logistics companies, he said more ports need to be established to serve affected areas. 

The DTI said on Wednesday that it will be establishing the Supply Chain and Logistics Center (SCLC), a central platform for businesses to access real-time, accurate, and actionable logistics and supply chain information.

“This center will act as a nationwide support system to address logistics concerns and connect users to appropriate service providers, thereby reducing transaction costs and enhancing market access,” it said.

The DTI launched on Wednesday the SCLC Hotline and SCLC Website.

It also took pledges of support from 17 partner logistics service providers.

The SCLC is expected to go live within the year, Ms. Roque said.