Bureau of Customs (BoC) certifies Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal (LGICT) as an authorized Off-Dock Customs Facility (OCF). Photo shows (from left) LGICT officers with the dry port’s BoC OCF certificate: Manuel Mayo, Safety and Pollution Officer; Airene Calaluan, Finance Head; Annie Magsino, Administration and Human Resources Head; Carmela Rodriguez, General Manager; Michelle Mendoza, Accounting Officer; and Mike Santos, Sales and Marketing Manager.
Bureau of Customs (BoC) certifies Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal (LGICT) as an authorized Off-Dock Customs Facility (OCF). Photo shows (from left) LGICT officers with the dry port’s BoC OCF certificate: Manuel Mayo, Safety and Pollution Officer; Airene Calaluan, Finance Head; Annie Magsino, Administration and Human Resources Head; Carmela Rodriguez, General Manager; Michelle Mendoza, Accounting Officer; and Mike Santos, Sales and Marketing Manager.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has certified the Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal, Inc. (LGICT), the dry port container handling facility of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) in Calamba City, Laguna, as an authorized Off-Dock Customs Facility (OCF).  The OCF certification enables LGICT to offer faster and seamless services to businesses and industries in Southern Luzon, specifically locators in economic zones using ICTSI’s flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) as their trading gateway. “The OCF status allows us to have the Bureau of Customs hold their functions and activities inside the LGICT dry port.  As an OCF, LGICT officially becomes an extension of the seaport, and, in our case, an extension of the MICT.  With this, we will be able to serve the requirements of importers, exporters, forwarders, third party logistics providers, or locators in the economic zones in the region,” says Carmela Rodriguez, LGICT general manager. “We thank the BoC and Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon for the certification. We are excited to fully open our gates to our customers in April,” adds Ms. Rodriguez. LGICT has ongoing activities that will make the dry port a fully compliant OCF, including the installation of a one-stop-shop housing BoC and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) offices, and in the near future the revival of the multimodal service via rail.  LGICT has allocated five hectares of yard space as customs area, which can accommodate 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) at any one time. With these projects in the pipeline, LGICT clients would benefit from the efficient cargo movement between points (discharging / loading ports and the last mile between LGICT and the manufacturers and vice versa), cost rationalization, and the development plans of LGICT itself, which could bring in new businesses for clients and industry stakeholders. The LGICT is a 250,000 TEU annual capacity dry port / inland container depot strategically located at Barangay San Cristobal, Calamba City, Laguna near the economic zones in Laguna, Batangas, Quezon and the eastern front of Cavite.  The facility will be able to serve and support trade movement of economic zones within a 30-kilometer radius. With a terminal area of 21 hectares, 10 hectares of which are allotted to the container yard, the dry port is designed as a conduit that enhances the logistics supply chain activities of direct cargo owners and logistics service providers, and other support services for the benefit of end-users.  Currently, it offers laden container storage, empty depot, reefer container plugs, dedicated loading and stripping area, and select areas for subleasing.  LGICT is equipped with container weighbridge and state-of-the-art container-handling equipment, which on full build, will include rubber tired gantries.