Manila’s two international ports have reached optimum capacity and are prepared for the anticipated surge in activity in the run-up to Christmas and the national elections, according to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
Manila South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) are both operating “even better prior to the pre-port congestion level in February 2014,” PPA said in a statement.
Ports suffered from massive congestion after the Manila city government imposed a daytime truck ban beginning late February 2014. Effects of the congestion were felt long after the ban was temporarily lifted in September.
Yard utilization at South Harbor and MICT is now at 55% to 59%, or about 44,000 to 48,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to PPA. Port productivity “has really gone up to all-time highs resulting in faster turnaround time for cargoes and vessels to and from the port.”
PPA general manager Atty. Juan Sta. Ana said “the two Manila ports are more than ready to handle the anticipated uptick in cargo volume in the next 9 months brought about by the Christmas season and the upcoming national elections.”
He noted that the measures put in place by government, terminal operators, and stakeholders during the Manila port congestion have helped prepare the two ports for the upcoming peak season.
“While we anticipate some glitches, we can easily address it particularly now that we have almost zero vessels waiting at anchorage and the number of cargoes coming out of our gates has been steady,” Sta. Ana explained.
“Barring any major policies implemented outside the ports, we will never see another scenario just like last year where port operations really hit rock bottom,” the PPA chief assured.
PPA expects cargo volume to be at least 10% higher until the end of the first quarter of 2016 due to the Christmas holiday and election season.
In the first four months of 2015, total cargo volume handled by PPA ports reached 66.6 million metric tons (mmt), 6.334% higher than the 62.63 mmt posted in the same period last year.
Domestic cargoes registered a 6.87% hike to 27.75 mmt from 25.97 mmt last year. Foreign cargo inched up 5.97% to 38.85 mmt from 36.66 mmt a year ago. Imports rose 7.69% to 22.21 mmt from 20.63 mmt in 2014, while exports increased 3.75% to 16.63 mmt compared to 16.03 mmt posted in 2014.
Among the Manila ports, MICT continued to handle the largest volume of foreign boxes with 650,629 TEUs, followed by South Harbor with 280,736 TEUs.
North Harbor handled the most domestic containerized cargoes.
PPA said the two Manila international port operators—Asian Terminals Inc. and International Container Terminal Services, Inc.—are still fine-tuning their container booking system that will prevent trucks without any port transaction from crowding the port and slowing down terminal operations.
Moreover, PPA said the terminal operators, together with the shipping lines, are managing well the flow of empty containers, as shown by the drop in empty container numbers in container depots in and outside of Metro Manila.
With stakeholders slowly adjusting to the different policies imposed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs, PPA said the movement of import and export containers “will continue to improve as time goes by.” – Roumina Pablo
