PH-bound LBC boxes delayed over port congestion in Manila
Philippine-bound LBC boxes from Saipan are taking much longer to reach their destinations because of ongoing port congestion in Manila.
LBC Saipan manager Valentino Gatchalian, however, said yesterday that those LBC boxes that left Saipan in early and late July are expected to be delivered to their intended recipients this week.
Gatchalian said the two batches arrived at the same time, and that they already cleared Philippine Customs last week.
He said because of port congestion in Manila, the ports in Hong Kong and Taiwan where cargo from Saipan go first, had temporarily refused accepting cargo. This was the cause of the delay which, he said, is beyond LBC’s control.
The Philippine government assured the public on Aug. 7 that the congestion at major ports in Metro Manila would ease by Saturday, August 16.
Samson Fernandez, one of those who sent an LBC box in early July, said he was hoping that the cargo delivery company would notify customers about the delay.
“Had I not called, I, and many other customers, won’t even know what happened to the LBC boxes. There is not even a date when they expect the boxes to be delivered to recipients in the Philippines. Included in the box I sent were medicines for my parents,” Fernandez told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Fernandez said he’s also disappointed that the LBC representative he inquired with, whom he described as a female, couldn’t explain what happened to the LBC boxes in a proper manner.