Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) recently received and commissioned three new reach stackers and 16 new Kalmar Ottawa terminal tractors for its Subic port operations.
The additional equipment has increased the terminal tractor fleet to 23 units or by 128%, while reach stacker fleet increased by 100%, SBITC said in a statement.
Each terminal tractor is equipped with a vehicle-mounted terminal that communicates directly with the terminal operating system Navis. This results in a state-of-the-art network of signals that enables all equipment to handle containers with pinpoint accuracy, the port operator noted.
“The new equipment, along with the opening of a one-stop shop, will allow us to continue to deliver superior customer experience for our customers from the quay to the gate including brokers, forwarders, and truckers and ultimately, the cargo owner,” SBITC general manager Roberto Locsin said.
“These investments make sense at a time of renewed interest in Subic and the efforts of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Subic Bureau of Customs (BOC), who promote the success of our importers and exporters in the region,” Locsin added.
Moreover, he said terminal productivity and efficiencies will continue to improve “as SBITC makes key investments in equipment and technology.”
“This demonstrates the commitment ICTSI (International Container Terminal Services, Inc.) and SBITC have for customers of central and northern Luzon. It is also part of our effort to persuade more customers to use Subic as it is logically the gateway for these regions.”
Meanwhile, the Subic port one-stop shop (OSS), which was created in partnership with SBMA and BOC, “hastens the processing of import transactions.” Located inside the New Container Terminal 1 beside the SBITC administration office, the OSS houses the SBMA and BOC Subic agencies under one roof. The setup promotes the seamless flow of transactions as port users no longer have to go to different areas in Subic to process their documents, SBITC noted.
READ: Subic port’s One-Stop-Shop officially opens, slashes processing to 4 hours
Subic port handled 73,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first seven months of the year, 158.9% higher than the 28,191 TEUs posted in the same period in 2014, and is 12.2% of its 600,000-TEU annual capacity. Subic aims to handle 120,000 TEUs this year.
