CEBU ports in southern Philippines posted sound results for the first half of the year, with cargo traffic increasing 3.44% to 14.73 million metric tons (mmt) from 14.22 mmt a year earlier, according to statistics provided by the Cebu Port Authority (CPA).
Domestic cargoes accounted for 10.72 mmt of the total volume, inching up 2.02% from 10.5 mmt year-on-year, while foreign cargoes totaled 4.01 mmt, up 7.21% from 3.72 mmt.
Volume grew 4.62% in the first quarter and 2.3% in the second quarter from the comparable periods last year.
First-half container throughput, which includes both laden and empty boxes, reached 309,403.75 twenty equivalent units (TEU), a 2.98% increase from 300,191 TEUs year-on-year.
Laden containers accounted for 228,852.25 TEUs, down 0.35% from last year’s 229,645.50 TEUs. Empties, on the other hand, grew 12.4% to 80,551.5 TEUs from last year’s 70,545.5 TEUs.
Container traffic was healthier at 153,696.50 TEUs in the first quarter and 155,707.25 TEUs in the second quarter, higher by 5.8% and 0.19%, respectively.
Shipcalls grew 15.29% in the first half to 57,647 from last year’s 48,830. Shipping traffic for the second quarter swelled 16.92% to 30,440 from 25,291.
More people also used Cebu’s ports from January to June 2013. Passenger traffic rose 6.04% to 9.12 million travelers from 8.6 million served in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Information Agency said in an advisory that the Cebu Port Commission, the policy-making body of the CPA, will discuss a new P18-billion international port project in Tayud, Liloan, Cebu, in its next board meeting on Sept. 9. – Roumina Pablo
Photo courtesy of Cebu Port Authority
