AVIATION support and logistics services provider MacroAsia Corp is pushing for the construction of a dedicated cargo terminal to make the Philippines more competitive internationally.
The current cargo terminal adjacent to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 is completely saturated and has no room for expansion.
“The air cargo business in the country is a bit underdeveloped. It’s an infrastructure issue,” said MacroAsia chief executive Joseph Chua at the company’s recent annual stockholders’ meeting.
“We feel this is a necessary infrastructure. There should be a world-class cargo terminal to kick start aviation in the Philippines.”
He added, “The original proposal to put up a cargo processing terminal was submitted to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) during the Ramos administration but the government has been slow to act on this pitch,” Chua said.
MacroAsia’s proposal for an integrated cargo terminal was submitted to the Department of Transportation and Communications on August 28, 1996. It called for construction of a cargo terminal adjacent to NAIA Terminal 3 that can process about 250,000 tons of cargo per year.
In 2007, MacroAsia along with flag carrier Philippine Airlines submitted to MIAA an updated proposal to build a cargo terminal near Terminal 3, using PAL and Air Philippines’ maintenance base complex as a site.
MacroAsia is owned by tycoon Lucio Tan, who is also the majority shareholder of PAL and budget carrier Air Philippines.
In 2010, MIAA forwarded to the Department of Trade and Industry plans to construct a P5-billion cargo terminal using the build-operate-transfer scheme. The plan has yet to gain traction though.
Based on the proposal, MIAA is recommending three locations for the cargo terminal: an area near NAIA Terminal 1; beside NAIA Terminal 3; and between the Manila Domestic Airport and the old Nayong Pilipino.
Once complete, the new cargo facility is expected to more than double capacity of the existing terminal.
