A P2.4-billion container seaport at the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport, south of Manila in the Philippines may soon rise with funding from the Korean and Philippine governments.
The planned facility, to be completed in four years, can handle ships of up to 50,000 metric tons and will have cargo-handling facilities, including 350-ton capacity harbor cranes and 25-ton capacity forklifts, as well as a multi-purpose wharf, fishery wharf for marine products equipped with a 100-meter berth, storage yards, and a passenger terminal.
The container terminal is estimated to handle 700,000 tons of cargo annually.
Businesses from Aurora freeport locators aside from outside investments specifically from Cagayan Valley and Aurora’s five other adjacent provinces are the target users of the facility and agro-fishery, timber and industrial products from central and northern Luzon the target shipments.
The seaport’s planned passenger wharf is also expected to be able to host cruise ships with a 400-gross ton capacity.
Shippers transporting goods from Aurora to Manila and vice versa may expect a 20-30% drop in their logistics costs, according to the project’s feasibility study conducted by Dasan Engineering and DY Engineering companies and funded by a P15-million grant from the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund.
Currently, shipping a 20-foot container van to Casiguran from Manila North Port costs about P75,000.
Last January, a team from Korea led by project coordinator Shan Sheonghan Kim conducted an ocular inspection of the preferred site in Pagas Point in Barangay Dibacong along Casiguran Bay. Kim was accompanied by engineering coordinator Se Wook Yeo, Ji Hoon Lee and Hyuk-Yoon Kwon.
South Korea in 2009 was the Philippines’ third biggest source of foreign direct investments as well as the country’s seventh largest trading partner.
Last year alone, South Korean investors pledged to bring in P23.8 billion, more than half of total investment approvals for that period.
Also last month, South Korea’s Incheon Port inked a sister port agreement with the Philippine Ports Authority to further increase cooperation between Manila and Seoul.
