Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC) has acquired four additional reach stackers to ensure efficient port operations and optimize the container yard space of the Subic port terminal.
Installing reach stackers is part of the terminal operator’s initiative to further enhance its capacity to handle more containers stemming from the surge in imports and from being assigned as an empty-container evacuation center last year.
“Our investments in global standard port equipment and systems help in maintaining robust operations in NCT [New Container Terminal] 1 and 2 to meet the needs and demands of our partners,” SBITC, a subsidiary of Manila International Container Terminal operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc., in a statement said.
These investments firm up our position as a competitive international gateway for industries in the freeport area and the North and Central Luzon region, it added.
The reach stackers arrived at the terminal this month and will be fully operational by next month. Each stacker has a load capacity of 45,000 kilograms and can stack up to five containers high.
The port currently has seven reach stackers for yard and vessel operations. SBITC said two more improvements will be carried out within the first half of 2019.
“We are expecting two more [pieces of] equipment to arrive in the coming months. This is only the first leg of the improvements planned for the year,” SBITC said.
NCTs 1 and 2, operated by SBITC, have a total annual capacity of 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. Last month, SBITC said cargo volumes it has been handling have been growing continuously for 13 straight months since 2017.
