Cargo volume handled by Philippine ports for the first 10 months of 2019 grew 3.74% to 227.055 million metric tons (MT) from 218.872 million MT in the same period last year, driven mostly by the surge in foreign cargo traffic.
Data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed foreign cargoes rose 6.69% to 140.569 million MT from January to October 2019 from the recorded 131.753 million MT in the same period in 2018.
Imports increased 3.5% to 85.438 million MT from 82.551 million MT, while exports jumped 12% to 55.131 million MT from 49.202 million MT recorded in the same period a year ago.
PPA said cargo traffic notably improved in the port management offices (PMO) of Panay/Guimaras, Surigao, Northern Luzon, Davao, and National Capital Region (NCR) South.
Domestic cargoes, on the other hand, slid 0.73% to 86.486 million MT from 87.12 million MT previously.
In terms of containers, volume expanded 8.5% in the first 10 months of the year to 6.755 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 6.240 million TEUs in the same months last year.
PPA said the improvement in container traffic was due to the “robust shipping and trade atmosphere which is expected to drive progression towards the end of the year.”
Both foreign and domestic container traffic reported increases for the period. Foreign container volume reached 4.100 million TEUs, up 11.14% from the 3.689 million TEUs recorded last year.
Import containers jumped 9.2% to 2.065 million TEUs from 1.89 million TEUs, while export containers rose 13.13% to 2.036 million TEUs from 1.799 million TEUs.
Domestic containers likewise improved 4.08% to 2.655 million TEUs from 2.551 million TEUs.
PPA said a noticeable increase in container volume was seen in the PMOs of Batangas, NCR South, NCR North, Eastern Leyte/Samar, and SOCSARGEN.
Ship calls recorded a 5.56% increment in the period January to October 2019 to 411,625 vessels from 389,934 vessels in the same period in 2018. PPA said the increase was due to the surge in domestic ship calls, which outweighed the modest decline in foreign vessel traffic.
Domestic ship calls rose 5.69% to 402,033 from 380,381 while foreign vessel traffic dropped 0.40% to 9,553.
The increase in ship calls “was most pronounced at PMOs Bohol, Davao, Surigao, Panay/Guimaras, and Zamboanga,” PPA said.
Meanwhile, passenger traffic climbed 8.28% to 69.011 million passengers from 63.733 million passengers in the first 10 months of 2018. PPA said this was driven by the “continuous reliance by the sea-travelling public on Ro-Ro (roll-on/roll-off) vessels, fast crafts, and motorized boats.”
Increased volume of passengers was recorded in the PMOs of Batangas, Davao, Panay/Guimaras, Surigao, and Mindoro.
Cruise tourists count, however, declined 48.22% in the first 10 months of 2019 to 99,376 from 191,937 in the same period last year. PPA said the drop in cruise tourists was due to the decline recorded in South Harbor and “the imposed limitation in the number of cruise ships and tourists in Boracay Island to protect its environment.”