The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) posted P8.903 billion in revenues for 2012, according to preliminary figures obtained from the agency. This is up 4.45% compared with 2011, on the back of bigger cargo volume and higher container traffic as the economy improved.
David Simon, PPA assistant general manager for finance and administration, said the 6.6% growth in the domestic economy last year made a big impact on the port industry.
This prompted the agency to forecast 6.7% revenue growth this year.
“We are looking between P9.4 billion and P9.5 billion revenues for 2013, (this) being an election year,” Simon said.
Port revenues increased 4.34% to P8.794 billion from 2011’s P8.385 billion while fund management income grew 10.98% to P153.48 million from P138.29 million, mainly due to short-term investments.
Interest earned on the bond sinking fund augmented the fund management income, the PPA said in its financial report.
“The traditional sources of revenues, derived from vessels and cargoes, remittances, terminal operators and government share in cargo handling continued to improve, thus enabling PPA to sustain its operations and infrastructure development,” the PPA said.
The PPA noted a decline in Davao port revenues due to lower exports of bananas last year after China imposed stringent screening of Philippine banana shipments, and after two powerful typhoons destroyed banana plantations in the south. It estimates that 30% of the banana plantations were damaged and will need 15 months to recover, according to Simon.
“Surigao was the top grosser among ports outside Manila, and has surprisingly surpassed the achievement of Cagayan de Oro due to mining,” Simon said.
Expenditures on repairs, maintenance and other administrative costs were still being consolidated. PPA expects some adjustments in revenue data once expenditure data are reported.
For January to October 2012, PPA posted a P3 billion net income, down 6.94% from P3.31 billion for the same period in 2011. Repair, maintenance and other administrative costs as well as depreciation rose, causing net income to decline by P229.71 million or 6.94% from the same period in 2011.
Gross revenues for the period totaled P7.373 billion, up 4.75% year-on-year and 1.84% higher than the P7.24-billion target.
