Date of Award
2000
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Science in Maritime Affairs
Specialization
Shipping Management
Campus
Malmö, Sweden
Country
Philippines
First Advisor
Ma, Shuo
Abstract
The Philippine domestic or interisland shipping probably is one of the few, if not the only, water transport in Asia that is subject to regulations. It is the protection of the public interest that the government, just like a few in the world, regulates public services or utilities, and one of these services is the water transportation. Among the many areas of regulation is the setting and prescription of rates by the government, and by this, the procedure for rate setting is used and consistently applied to any rate restructuring or adjustment. The rate adjustment formula, however, gained criticisms and viewed by the users, i.e., shipowners and shippers, as obsolete and does not serve its purpose to which it was formulated, thus, needs revisiting and its possible reformulation, if indeed found to be ineffective. The research work is an assessment of the rate setting procedure in the Philippine liner shipping which is currently being used by the authorized agency, the Maritime Industry Authority, in charge of regulations and development of the shipping industry in the Philippines. A brief look is taken at the present rate adjustment procedure, its development from the time it was established and its evolution in the present structure. Guidelines and policies formulated and implemented by the authority relative to rates are also presented and reviewed to verify the history and how these issuances have effected changes in the structure of rates in the domestic liner shipping. The evaluation procedure including the application/determination of rates with the methodology used is presented and evaluated whereby verification of the allegations/criticisms made by critics on the identified shortcomings in the rate setting procedure are drawn and thereafter, the proposal on what measures or solutions to take in order to rectify and improve the present rates system and procedure. The final chapter concludes that deregulating fully the rate in the Philippine domestic or interisland trade is a better choice than to continue adopting/using the antiquated formula, which is now regarded as unrealistic and ineffective to its intents and purposes, due to its apparent flaws and defects.