Listed port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) said Manila South Harbor, which serves as one of two major international trade gateways into Metro Manila, is ready to handle the influx of cargoes with the onset of the holiday peak months.
“Berth and yard operations are at normal levels. We are ready for the Christmas cargo rush and we are working closely with the Philippine Ports Authority, the Bureau of Customs and other stakeholders to sustain healthy port operations,” ATI executive vice president William Khoury said in a statement.
ATI noted that the fourth quarter of the year is typically a peak season for shipment, when cargoes related to the holidays come in and manufacturers build up inventories for the ensuing year.
As of September 4, ATI said no vessels were waiting to dock at Manila South Harbor, where berth utilization is at a healthy 50%. Crane production is averaging at least 25 moves per crane per hour, while yard utilization averages 76%.
Another efficiency indicator, according to ATI, is the number of discharged containers from the vessels compared to those that go out of the terminal. On average, Manila South Harbor discharges around 1,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at quayside daily, with even more containers going out of the terminal gates at 1,700 TEUs, indicative of the seamless cargo flow from the vessel to the yard and up to the consignees’ factory doors.
The port operator said a significant contributor to this efficiency is the Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS), a web-based system institutionalized in 2015 that schedules the orderly pickup and delivery of cargoes to and from the port 24/7.
With terminal transactions pre-booked online, ATI said TABS has enabled truckers to pick up containers from the port within an hour of gate entry, without causing heavy traffic along major road arteries or bottlenecks at terminal gates.
