Utilization at off-dock container yards in the Greater Metro Manila and nearby areas is now back to pre-port congestion levels, but operators forecast levels could slip further with volume of empty containers handled predicted to be less in the first half of 2015 compared with the same period last year.
“We are back to pre-Manila port congestion level,” Container Depot Alliance of the Philippines (CDAP) president Carl Fontanilla told PortCalls in an email.
Fontanilla said the overall utilization of CDAP member depots from the last week of May to the first week of June was 42%.
Yard utilization of member depots in Metro Manila was 53% and all those outside Metro Manila, 19%. Laguna depots were at 32.5% utilization, those in Cavite at 50%, and in Bulacan and Batangas at 1% each.
CDAP members are SeaContainer Depot Corp, IRS Eastern, RAO Container Services, Inc, Philex Logistics, FJP Warehousing & Logistics, Inc, Movers and Managers Corp, Interpacific Highway Transport Corp, and SGP Corp.
For the same period in review, utilization of three non-CDAP member depots, including Container Bridge and Transocean, was 53%.
Average dwell time of empty containers was 30 days, a return to normal levels versus last year’s 60 to 90 days, Fontanilla said.
Container yards experienced a slow turnaround of empty containers last year due to port congestion triggered by the Manila daytime truck ban. This pushed utilization to more than 100% compared to the 70% to 80% levels before port congestion set in.
Less empties in first half
For the first half of 2015, CDAP expects a decrease in movement of empty containers from the same period last year. Compared to this year, Fontanilla said the first half of 2014 was extremely busy and an “abnormal” time because of the port congestion, which saw shippers scrambling for depots to park their containers caught in the logjam.
Fontanilla said new players that have set up container yards outside Metro Manila are now “experiencing very low utilization” which will “definitely affect the viability of their operation.”
Moreover, the CDAP chief said there is in fact a “surplus of empty containers for export.”
Association of International Shipping Lines president Patrick Ronas corroborated Fontanilla’s statement. He told PortCalls there was ample supply of empties “unless imports go down”, in which case export empties also slip. – Roumina Pablo
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