General Santos City (GenSan) and the surrounding area called Socsksargen (consisting of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and Gen. Santos City) is the undisputed tuna capital of the Philippines. At the heart of the industry is the General Santos Fish Port (GSFP) Complex, the country's second largest fish port, and considered the most modern in the Philippines today.
Located at Barangay Tambler, 12 kilometers south of the city proper, the port occupies a 32-hectare lot owned by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority. It lies close to rich tuna fishing grounds - Sarangani Bay, the Sulawesi Sea, and the adjacent waters of the Western Pacific. Each month, 50 commercial fishing companies land approximately 8,500 metric tons (MT) of sashimi grade tuna, which serves the needs of leading hotels in Metro Manila, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
The fish port was completed in 1998 supported by funding from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan. It has four separate fish landing and handling docks to cater to the requirements of three types of fishermen: a 1.5-meter deep wharf for sashimi-tuna fishermen; a 3.5-meter deep wharf for municipal fishermen; and a six-meter deep wharf for commercial deep-sea purse seine fishermen. Fish market halls, ice plants and cold storage buildings, loading areas and parking lots complement these facilities.
In addition, seven of the country's top 10 tuna canneries are based in GenSan; they have a combined canning capacity of 750 MT per day. All this activity translates to more than 50,000 jobs, all tied to the tuna industry's diverse occupations, such as fishing, canning, ship repair, and transportation.
However, to keep pace with the city's booming tuna industry and to spur export development, the GSFP is planning further expansion. A senior port official explained that the six-meter water depth of the 320-meter long 'large vessel' dock can only accommodate two to three vessels carrying frozen tuna and around six to seven unloading fresh/chilled tuna and similar fish.
'Some Philippine-registered refrigerated boats as well as the international-based versions can carry up to 3,000 MT of frozen fish cargo. These vessels cannot be accommodated by the six-meter deep wharf,' he said.
Recommendations for fishport expansion are the result of a study entitled 'Improving the Efficiency of the General Santos Fishport' conducted in 1999 by the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program.
The GEM Program, which is implemented in collaboration with the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo), was commissioned by the Flagship Project Office in 1999 to conduct a study on expansion requirements.
The study recommended the construction of deep wharves able to accommodate large tonnage fishing vessels as well as an expansion of cold storage facilities in the fishport complex.
Subsequently, the China National Constructional and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CAMC) extended a $25-million loan to the Philippine government for the improvement and expansion of the fishport's facilities. The amount is part of the $100-million financial protocol signed between the Philippine government and the People's Republic of China for the improvement of the agriculture sector.
The project involves the construction of 500 meters of six to 10-meter deep draft wharves to accommodate large tonnage fishing vessels; a cold storage facility with a capacity of 1,500 metric tons; a 500-cubic meter wastewater treatment plant; a power substation with a standby generator set; and, port handling machine and equipment.
According to Eng. Edgar Deysulong, GSFP manager, the proposed expansion will provide additional infrastructure facilities for fish landing and marketing. It will enable not only efficient unloading of fishing vessels and carriers but also improve the handling and distribution of fish. It will also encourage canneries in the area to expand their capacity. The new wastewater treatment plant will accommodate additional volumes of wastewater to be generated from the industries that will be set up inside the fishport complex.
The character of international fishing and fish processing industries is changing. There is a major shift towards large-scale distant water fishing since the primary fishing grounds for maturing tuna lie further east of the Philippines.
Consequently, larger fishing craft are required to harvest these fish. The fish port in turn must have the capacity to accommodate the bigger vessels when they return with their catch.
As of now, some of these bigger ships delivering tuna to the canneries dock in privately owned jetties where they compete for precious berthing space with commercial vessels and passenger liners.
'With the entry of bigger vessels carrying larger volumes of fish, there is more raw material assurance for the processing plants,' pointed out Domingo Teng, president of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc.
Accordingly, the city's tuna processing sector is also rapidly expanding, its canned tuna has achieved a reputation for good quality and is increasing its market share in the USA and Europe.
All of the fish processing plants have been accredited by the US and EU food regulating authorities.
For this purpose, an efficient unloading system will be put in place to minimize transfer costs. This will involve the acquisition of conveyor systems and off-loading equipment like cranes, forklift, and fins.
'It will be a chain reaction, once you have more fish landings you will have the economies of scale necessary to encourage investors to put up cold storage facilities and ice plants. Right now they are wary of putting in capital when there is no assurance of substantial volume of fish coming in,' said Renne Subido, head of the GenSan satellite office of the GEM Program.
'By improving fish landing and providing the infrastructure and required support facilities, we ensure the continued competitiveness of GenSan's tuna industry and in turn create more jobs and opportunities not only in the city but in the entire Socsksargen area,' Subido said.