The Port of Subic handled 50% more containerized shipments in September compared to the same month last year.
“As of last month, we have already broken our 2014 yearend record of 77,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs),” Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia said.
This has brought container traffic from January to September to 93,757 TEUs. No comparative figures were given.
At the rate the Port of Subic is performing, Garcia earlier said he expects volume this year to double from last year’s 77,000 TEUs.
Laden import shipments rose 51% and exports by 19% in September this year from the same month last year. Import empty containers also grew 52% and empties for export by 84%.
Transshipments, however, dropped to 6 TEUs from 65 TEUs.
Non-containerized cargo volume as measured in metric tons registered a 48% growth in September vis-à-vis the same month last year. These cargoes largely consisted of liquid bulk and petroleum shipments, up 99%.
Bulk and break bulk shipments saw a 16% uptick, and heavy equipment, lo-lo, and ro-ro shipments a 4% rise.
In September, there were 53% more shipcalls in Subic from the same month last year.
The number of domestic vessels grew by 56% and foreign vessels by 47% for the period in review.
As a result, there was a 10% increase in gross registered tonnage (GRT) recorded by the port. Domestic vessels saw GRT soar 126% and foreign ships by 6%.
“Our port likewise enjoyed a 55% hike in revenues, from P63 million in September 2014 to P99 million last month,” Garcia reported.
Port leases and rentals, up 126%, contributed a big chunk to port revenue as did cargo charges up 19%, processing fees (up 27%) and other charges (up 26%).
Garcia attributed the port’s positive performance to several factors such as Subic’s one-stop shop, the only one of its kind in Luzon; SBMA’s port marketing programs, which includes two recent maritime summits; and the formation of a Maritime Technical Group.
“All these initiatives plus the fact that Subic Bay is the only port in the Philippines western seaboard that still has enough capacity to handle additional container volume have further sharpened our port’s competitive edge,” the SBMA official explained.
