WASHINGTON: Manila’s three ports have enough space for peak holiday season cargoes, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) announced. “The Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), the Manila South Harbor (MSH) and the Manila North Port (MNP) continue to be strong, with no slowdown expected even with the Christmas rush,” confirmed PPA General Manager (GM) Jay Daniel R. Santiago. To date, the combined yard utilization at the two international Manila ports MICT and MSH remained at 60.12% or about 20% below the optimum level of 80%, he pointed out. “Both terminals posted at least a 10% increase in their productivity as of end September, suggesting a fully functional Manila ports,” the GM added. “The premier domestic terminal, the MNP, has a yard utilization rate of 43.40%, giving the port enough elbow room for anticipated increase in demand at this point in time,” according to Santiago. “With a combined average quay crane productivity of the three terminals at 26 moves per hour per crane, barring any major development, we can guarantee a congestion-free Manila ports at any given time.” The 60.12% utilization rate means that some 48,900 containers are inside the terminal while 32,600 container slots remain vacant. With container gate-outs almost reaching 8,000 container outs per day, the utilization rate is expected to hover around the 55-60% utilization rate until after the Christmas season. The tight security measures due to the ASEAN Heads of States meeting in the middle of November are expected to disrupt the vessel and transport delivery movements. However, the PPA GM assured this will not make a significant dent in congesting Manila’s ports.
Nevertheless, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is advising all cargo owners to plan ahead for the withdrawal and deposit of their cargoes to and from the ports this early. They should also make allowances for the Bureau of Customs’ temporary shut down of its Green Lane operations and inspection of majority of imported cargoes though these measures will not disrupt the smooth flow of goods to and from the terminals. At present, total container volume has reached 4.609 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The volume is higher by 8.84% compared to the 4.235 million TEUs handled in the same period last year. About 85% of the total or some 3.917 million TEUs are handled by the Manila ports wherein 2.703 million TEUs are foreign boxes composed of import and export cargoes while 1.905 million TEUs are domestic containers. This year, the PPA projects a modest increase in cargo volume of about 5-7% after revising a flat growth forecast early this year due to the country’s robust economy.
