Manila’s yard is above the level customs treats as congested
17 Aug 20265 min read
Summary
- Demurrage is charged on loaded containers left inside a terminal beyond free time, and detention is charged on containers taken out whose empties are not returned in time.
- Carrier tariffs published for Philippine imports allow five to eight free days and then escalate, roughly doubling the daily rate for a 40-foot box between the first tier and the last, per schedules published by Maersk, Orient Overseas Container Line and Regional Container Lines.
- The Bureau of Customs has been trying to regulate these charges since 2019, its draft rules remain unsigned, and the international shipping lines dispute that it has the authority at all.
Take a 40-foot container discharged at Manila on 3 August 2026. Under the import tariff Maersk publishes for the Philippines it carries eight free days, so charges begin on 11 August at PHP 4,000 a day, rise to PHP 5,000 on 17 August and to PHP 6,000 on 22 August. None of that depends on whether the importer can book a slot to collect the box.
Two clocks govern the cost of a container that sits still. Demurrage is charged on a loaded container that stays inside the terminal beyond its free time. Detention is charged on a container that has left the terminal and whose empty has not reached the depot by the deadline. Some carriers merge the two into one import charge, as the Danish carrier Maersk and Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) do in the Philippines, running it from discharge to the day the empty is handed back.
Free time is short. Regional Container Lines, the Bangkok-headquartered intra-Asia carrier, allows five days on standard dry containers and three on refrigerated containers, known in the trade as reefers, for Philippine imports. OOCL allows eight days on its combined import charge and four days of outbound demurrage at Manila, Subic and Batangas. Maersk allows eight.
The rate structure matters more than the free-time allowance, because the tariffs escalate. Regional Container Lines charges USD 42 a day for a 40-foot dry container in its first tier, USD 94 in the second and USD 147 from day 16. OOCL’s combined import charge runs at PHP 2,500 a day for three days and PHP 5,000 thereafter. Maersk moves from PHP 4,000 to PHP 5,000 to PHP 6,000. In each case the daily cost roughly doubles between the first tier and the last, so the cost of a delay rises faster than the delay itself.
At PHP 57 to the US dollar in early August 2026, Maersk’s top tier is about USD 105 a day for a 40-foot dry box, against USD 147 at Regional Container Lines. Charges above USD 150 appear only for reefers, for special equipment such as flat racks and open tops, and in the top tiers of North American and European ports.
Where terminals allocate gate slots by appointment, the clock and the appointment sit with different parties. The carrier sets the tariff. The terminal controls the slots. The importer holds neither. Manila International Container Terminal has run a booking system for container trucks since 2015, and its yard has been running above the level at which the Bureau of Customs treats a terminal as congested. The bureau sets 75 per cent as normal operating capacity and triggers measures when a terminal exceeds it for two consecutive weeks. MICT stood at 85.03 per cent on 18 February 2026 and Manila South Harbour at 79.11 per cent, with MICT reefer utilisation above 90 per cent in January.
Whether that amounts to congestion is disputed. Jay Daniel Santiago, general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority, said in February that elevated yard utilisation does not automatically indicate congestion and that cargo processing remained steady with no impact on port charges. The Alliance of Container Yard Operators put member yards at 85 to 90 per cent. International Container Terminal Services Inc pointed to a shortage of trucks, with equipment tied up carrying empty containers while depots stayed full.
Return to the worked example. If the importer loses four days waiting for a slot, straddling the boundary between Maersk’s second and third tiers, the wait costs PHP 22,000, about USD 390, on one box. A shipper moving 50 containers a month through a congested gateway carries a five-figure US dollar exposure generated by a booking system it does not operate.
The Philippine government has been trying to regulate these charges for seven years without finishing the job. A joint administrative order drafted in February 2019 was signed by the trade and transport secretaries in mid-2019 and never by finance. The Bureau of Customs circulated a draft customs administrative order in November 2024 covering transport, loading, unloading and handling charges levied by foreign carriers, with a consultation deadline of 12 November. The bureau revived the joint order in June 2026, and a technical working group led by the Department of Finance is now studying it, according to Philippine shipping and logistics publication PortCalls Asia. None of it is in force.
What the draft would do is worth reading anyway. It provides that no detention charge applies where the delay results from the shipping line’s own failure, including inadequate yard space, and it bars demurrage from creating a lien on container deposits. The Association of International Shipping Lines has contested the premise, arguing that while the bureau may register and regulate foreign shipping lines, it cannot reach commercial matters such as carriers’ rates and charges. That jurisdictional dispute is why the rule is still a draft after seven years.
Even if signed, the draft would stop short of the gate. It draws its line at the shipping line’s own failure and says nothing about the terminal, a separate company from the carrier, having no slot to give. An importer in that position pays a carrier for time consumed by a third party, and neither the published tariffs nor the draft rule distinguish a slot that was refused from one that was never offered.
Two things are worth watching. The first is whether the finance department’s working group produces a signed order, because a tariff with a regulator behind it is a different commercial instrument from one without. The second is whether the 75 per cent trigger starts to bite at Manila, because a terminal formally designated as congested changes what an importer can argue when a demurrage invoice arrives.
The container in the worked example is the carrier’s own equipment, and the charge exists to get it back. What seven years of Philippine drafting has not answered is who should carry the cost when the equipment cannot move because the gate is full.
Two clocks govern the cost of a container that sits still. Demurrage is charged on a loaded container that stays inside the terminal beyond its free time. Detention is charged on a container that has left the terminal and whose empty has not reached the depot by the deadline. Some carriers merge the two into one import charge, as the Danish carrier Maersk and Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) do in the Philippines, running it from discharge to the day the empty is handed back.
Free time is short. Regional Container Lines, the Bangkok-headquartered intra-Asia carrier, allows five days on standard dry containers and three on refrigerated containers, known in the trade as reefers, for Philippine imports. OOCL allows eight days on its combined import charge and four days of outbound demurrage at Manila, Subic and Batangas. Maersk allows eight.
The rate structure matters more than the free-time allowance, because the tariffs escalate. Regional Container Lines charges USD 42 a day for a 40-foot dry container in its first tier, USD 94 in the second and USD 147 from day 16. OOCL’s combined import charge runs at PHP 2,500 a day for three days and PHP 5,000 thereafter. Maersk moves from PHP 4,000 to PHP 5,000 to PHP 6,000. In each case the daily cost roughly doubles between the first tier and the last, so the cost of a delay rises faster than the delay itself.
At PHP 57 to the US dollar in early August 2026, Maersk’s top tier is about USD 105 a day for a 40-foot dry box, against USD 147 at Regional Container Lines. Charges above USD 150 appear only for reefers, for special equipment such as flat racks and open tops, and in the top tiers of North American and European ports.
Where terminals allocate gate slots by appointment, the clock and the appointment sit with different parties. The carrier sets the tariff. The terminal controls the slots. The importer holds neither. Manila International Container Terminal has run a booking system for container trucks since 2015, and its yard has been running above the level at which the Bureau of Customs treats a terminal as congested. The bureau sets 75 per cent as normal operating capacity and triggers measures when a terminal exceeds it for two consecutive weeks. MICT stood at 85.03 per cent on 18 February 2026 and Manila South Harbour at 79.11 per cent, with MICT reefer utilisation above 90 per cent in January.
Whether that amounts to congestion is disputed. Jay Daniel Santiago, general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority, said in February that elevated yard utilisation does not automatically indicate congestion and that cargo processing remained steady with no impact on port charges. The Alliance of Container Yard Operators put member yards at 85 to 90 per cent. International Container Terminal Services Inc pointed to a shortage of trucks, with equipment tied up carrying empty containers while depots stayed full.
Return to the worked example. If the importer loses four days waiting for a slot, straddling the boundary between Maersk’s second and third tiers, the wait costs PHP 22,000, about USD 390, on one box. A shipper moving 50 containers a month through a congested gateway carries a five-figure US dollar exposure generated by a booking system it does not operate.
The Philippine government has been trying to regulate these charges for seven years without finishing the job. A joint administrative order drafted in February 2019 was signed by the trade and transport secretaries in mid-2019 and never by finance. The Bureau of Customs circulated a draft customs administrative order in November 2024 covering transport, loading, unloading and handling charges levied by foreign carriers, with a consultation deadline of 12 November. The bureau revived the joint order in June 2026, and a technical working group led by the Department of Finance is now studying it, according to Philippine shipping and logistics publication PortCalls Asia. None of it is in force.
What the draft would do is worth reading anyway. It provides that no detention charge applies where the delay results from the shipping line’s own failure, including inadequate yard space, and it bars demurrage from creating a lien on container deposits. The Association of International Shipping Lines has contested the premise, arguing that while the bureau may register and regulate foreign shipping lines, it cannot reach commercial matters such as carriers’ rates and charges. That jurisdictional dispute is why the rule is still a draft after seven years.
Even if signed, the draft would stop short of the gate. It draws its line at the shipping line’s own failure and says nothing about the terminal, a separate company from the carrier, having no slot to give. An importer in that position pays a carrier for time consumed by a third party, and neither the published tariffs nor the draft rule distinguish a slot that was refused from one that was never offered.
Two things are worth watching. The first is whether the finance department’s working group produces a signed order, because a tariff with a regulator behind it is a different commercial instrument from one without. The second is whether the 75 per cent trigger starts to bite at Manila, because a terminal formally designated as congested changes what an importer can argue when a demurrage invoice arrives.
The container in the worked example is the carrier’s own equipment, and the charge exists to get it back. What seven years of Philippine drafting has not answered is who should carry the cost when the equipment cannot move because the gate is full.