Philippine port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) posted a net income of P1.91 billion in 2016, 7.8% higher compared to P1.77 billion in 2015, on record cargo volumes handled by its international gateway ports in Manila and Batangas.
Without the foreign exchange impact, net income would be P2.10 billion, 12.6% higher than P1.86 billion in 2015.
In a disclosure with the local bourse, ATI said its 2016 revenues rose by 13.5% to P9.25 billion from P8.15 billion in 2015, driven by robust international container cargoes at Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal (BCT), supplemented by strong international roll-on/roll-off cargoes at Batangas Port.
Last year, Manila South Harbor handled 19% more international containers than in 2015, breaching the 1 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) mark for the first time in three decades. This was also driven by significant productivity gains which ensured port utilizations were efficiently maintained below an average 65% for the year, ATI said in a statement. Revenues from South Harbor’s international containerized cargoes grew by 18.2% from 2015.
Equally notable was Batangas Port which handled over 200,000 completely built car units (CBUs) in 2016—its highest car throughput in a single year—representing over 42% growth over 2015. This boosted Batangas Port’s 2016 revenues by 16.1% compared to the previous year.
Batangas international container service connections to ports in Asia, meanwhile, continued to expand with seven weekly services covering the major Asian ports, drawing volume away from Manila’s roads, ATI said. BCT handled nearly 160,000 TEUs last year, 18% more than 2015’s, for its highest foreign container throughput since starting commercial operations in 2010.
Responding to the robust consumer demand for vehicles, ATI said it has begun constructing a multilevel CBU storage facility at Batangas Port. Scheduled to be completed by 2018, the facility will be able to store over 5,000 additional cars at a single time, raising Batangas Port’s CBU storage capacity by nearly 50%.
