The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has revised upward its projections for container traffic at the port to 130,000 twenty foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in 2015.
The previous projection by SBMA was 120,000 TEUs or 20% of the 600,000-TEU capacity of Subic Port’s New Container Terminals (NCTs) 1 and 2.
SBMA chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia said the port had already handled 73,000 TEUs as of July, just 4,000 TEUs short of the 77,000 TEUs serviced for the full year of 2014.
“We are going into the heavy months starting September, and if the port congestion in Manila persists, we can expect more containers to come to Subic,” Garcia said during the 15th anniversary celebration of NCT1 on August 10.
The SBMA chief also welcomed the passage of Republic Act No. 10668 or “An Act Allowing Foreign Vessels to Transport and Co-load Foreign Cargoes for Domestic Transshipment and for Other Purposes.”
Garcia noted that under the current arrangement, foreign carriers are only allowed to call at one port, but under R.A. No. 10668 they will soon be able to “go to any port, from Subic to Puerto Princesa to Iligan,” or wherever they want.
Garcia said the new law will make local shipping lines more competitive and lower shipping costs.
He said the Philippines has one of the highest interisland shipping rates “and reports have it that it is more expensive to ship a container from Manila to Davao than from Manila to Singapore.”
“It doesn’t make sense, and that is not good for business,” the SBMA chief added.
The Northern and Central Luzon hub has been enjoying higher volumes since last year and now has seven regular callers, namely, APL, Wan Hai, MCC Transport, NYK Line, SITC, K Line, and Swire Shipping.
