THE Philippine Ports Authority’s (PPA) net income for the first four months of the year grew 5.68% to P1.363 billion, thanks to a 7.49% decline in projected expenses.
Expenses dropped due to the slow implementation of repairs and maintenance and delay in hiring of personnel pending implementation of rationalization plans.
For the same period in review, gross revenues of P2.664 billion were off target by P32.17 million.
Port revenues, however, grew 7.51% to P2.6 billion from last year’s P2.4 billion. PPA attributed the rise to higher contributions from Manila North Harbour Port Inc (MNHPI), operator of North Port.
North Port posted the most domestic throughput for the period at 4.50 million metric tons. Domestic containerized volume reached 245,144 twenty-foot equivalent units.
Against target, port revenue dropped 1.97% in January to April due to lower fees paid by International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) and Asian Terminals Inc (ATI) as well as lower arrastre/stevedoring and pilotage/storage charges.
“ICTSI and ATI fees deviated negatively from the target due to lower conversion in foreign exchange and decrease in collection of variable fees brought about by low turnout in volume of traffic from what had been projected,” PPA said in a report.
Fund management income went down P24.44 million or 41% to P34.57 million from last year’s P59 million due to a dip in the placement of investible funds.
All port district offices, except those in northern Mindanao, registered better revenue collections. Visayas and Southern Luzon saw the highest percentage growth over last year at 25.98% and 24.97%, respectively.
