Cargo containers filled with goods from toys to electronics are piling up on Manila’s docks as a rush-hour truck ban threatens to dent growth in the Philippines, Southeast Asia’s fastest-expanding economy.
Incoming cargo boxes have lingered at International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICT)’s 100-hectare port facility an average of 10 days — up from the usual six — since Mayor Joseph Estrada declared the ban in February, Christian Gonzalez, the company’s regional head, said in an interview.
Estrada said he would suspend the ban for eight days, ending at noon May 20. The national government requested the moratorium because “the Port of Manila needs to be cleared of [the] heavy volume of containers in time for the World Economic Forum,” according to a statement posted on the City of Manila’s official website. The Geneva-based economic policy organization is
hosting an East Asia summit in the capital region from May 21 to May 23.