Revenue from the maritime and logistics business unit of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) contributed P1.588 billion to the agency’s coffers last year.
The figure, representing the agency’s biggest revenue, is up 21% from P1.307 billion in 2014, said SBMA chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia in his recent 2015 State of the Freeport Address.
Port operations contributed the bulk or P1.08 billion to maritime operations earnings.
This helped bring SBMA’s 2015 gross revenue to P2.75 billion and operating income to P1.48 billion, the highest in the agency’s 23-year history. Adjusted for unrealized foreign exchange losses, SBMA’s net income increased 26%.
Subic port in 2015 handled 60% more containerized cargoes or 123,510 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 77,177 TEUs in 2014. Shipcalls also increased 29% as shipping lines calling the port increased to seven last year from just four in 2014.
This year, SBMA plans to sign sister port agreements with Taiwan, Virginia Beach, and San Francisco. Sister port partnerships allow both parties to share policies and best practices on port management and operations and provide more trade and business opportunities between the two ports.
Such an agreement had been signed with Guangxi, China in 2008.
Very recently, SBMA and the Virginia Port Authority in the US also signed a memorandum of understanding that will provide a framework for information sharing aimed at generating new business by promoting the all-water route between the Subic Bay Freeport and Port of Virginia.
The Freeport authority is likewise eyeing the conduct of feasibility studies for the construction of Subic port’s New Container Terminals 3 and 4.
SBMA earlier expressed interest in constructing the terminals, each with a 300,000-TEU capacity, to expand Subic port in anticipation of growth.
Land side, feasibility studies to widen Tipo road and create a connector road to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway are also in the pipeline.
Investments past and future
Committed investments grew 23% to P22.8 billion in 2015. Exports reached $2.5 billion.
Some of the major business developments in Subic last year were the $30-million mill project by Singapore-based Interflour Group; the 150-megawatt solar and wind energy project by Jobin Inc.; and the $10-million project by Datian Subic Shoes, Inc. for the manufacture of footwear, among others.
This year the Freeport expects to approve a floating depot/drydock project with an estimated investment of $15 million.
Employers at the freeport generated 4,693 new jobs in 2015, increasing the local workforce to 101,651.
Tourism also continued to grow, posting a 14% growth in 2015 and registering a total of 7.7 million in visitor arrivals.
