Two Panamax quay cranes at Subic Port’s New Container Terminal (NCT) 1 recently achieved very high productivity levels after handling close to 400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) during a recent ship call, with one crane averaging 40 moves per hour and the other, 33 moves per hour.
In a statement, International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI), parent of NCT 1 operator Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC), said the recent achievement of NCT 1 is at par with operations at ICTSI’s flagship terminal Manila International Container Terminal.
The productivity levels were achieved during the inaugural call of Evergreen Marine Corp.’s 1,440-TEU containership Cape Fulmar, according to ICTSI.
The call signaled the start of Evergreen’s South Korea-Taiwan-Philippines (KTP) service, a new route to facilitate improving regional trade between the three economies. The service plies the ports of Incheon and Kwang Yang, South Korea; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Batangas, Manila, and Subic Bay, Philippines. Aside from Cape Fulmar, the 1,440-TEU boxship Cape Faro is also chartered to the weekly service.
SBITC president Roberto Locsin said the development “goes to show Subic is at par with the productivity levels in MICT. We are continuously working on improving our services to attract more shipping lines, and for northern and central Luzon businesses to use the container terminals in Subic.”
He added: “As a national port operator, ICTSI ensures that each Philippine marine terminal under its helm remains competitive. Subic, in particular, was developed not only for the industrial locators of the Freeport but for the local markets in Luzon north of Metro Manila.”
Locsin noted that Metro Manila, where most of the economic activities of the country happen, “will continue to grow” as a market.
“But, as the northern and central Luzon countryside develops driven by industrial centers like Subic, Clark, Bataan and Tarlac also continuing to grow, the Subic Bay Freeport is that gateway ready to link its products to global markets. We have the equipment and facilities. We carry ICTSI’s brand of service and efficiency,” he said.
ICTSI has positioned itself in Subic in anticipation of growing local markets north of Metro Manila. In 2007, under the Subic Port Development Plan, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority awarded SBITC the concession for NCT 1. In 2011, under the plan’s second phase, another ICTSI subsidiary, ICTSI Subic, Inc., was awarded the concession to operate NCT 2.
ICTSI said increasing volumes in Subic enabled ICTSI to streamline and interface the operations of NCT 1 and 2. The merged operation has been serving the growing markets of the region, providing continued support to the box market of Metro Manila.
