Manlia's International Container Terminal Services Inc's (ICTSI) Subic Bay Freeport unit, together with Subic Bay International Terminal Corp (SBITC) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) have put together the One Stop Shop to speed paper work at container terminals.

With the One Stop Shop, port users can expect shorter document and cargo processing times because SBITC, BOC and SBMA are housed at one location and shippers no longer have to traipse from one to the other.

Said SSBITC general manager Roberto Locsin: "What we want to achieve is a seamless flow of transactions. The facility practically solves the problem of having to go to different locations."

Average processing time has been reduced to four hours if documents are at hand and queues are not long. Before, clearance took as much a day.

The One Stop Shop is part of SBITC's initiative to lure potential customers to Subic. With its competitive rates compared with other ports in Luzon.

"The dry run went smoothly and we are happy with the feedback we got," said Mr Locsin. Just imagine the convenience: out of the 16 steps before you get your container out of the terminal, 14 of them can be processed in the facility."

Opening the facility, Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras underscored Subic's role as a trading gateway to northern and central Luzon and in supporting the container market of the Port of Manila.

"The government needs to add port capacity outside Metro Manila to address the country's growing container volumes, and Subic Bay has so much potential because of its existing port, infrastructure, roads and electricity," he said.