WASHINGTON, DC—Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez told reporters that FedEx operations in Clark City will expand by around five times more than its current capacity to enable it to operate as a transshipment point for packages. This means that all arriving packages are sorted and reloaded back to designated planes flying to various destinations and will not pass through the Customs area. This was taken up in a meeting among DTI officials, Presidential Adviser on Flagship Programs and Projects Vince Dizon, and FedEx Vice President Mr. Ralph Carter on 18 April 2022.
Secretary Dizon was in the meeting to address the concerns of FedEx in securing the necessary document that will allow efficiencies in the planned transshipment operations.
For his part, Mr. Carter disclosed that FedEx is looking ahead to initiate Phase 2 of its project in Clark, Pampanga in the soonest possible time. FedEx’s Phase 1 facility has an area of 7,000 square meters. He also stressed the need to have clear and flexible rules to ensure that transit goods that come to the Philippines are not stopped and inspected.
In February 2022, FedEx executives virtually met with Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head and Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo to discuss FedEx’s expansion plans and to seek assistance for the transport company’s initiative in getting into an agreement with BOC on transshipment rules. DTI-BOI is actively collaborating with BOC on the drafting of the CMO, which is an important prerequisite to finalizing FedEx’s investment plan.
