WASHINGTON: Congestion at the Manila ports would be highly unlikely during the holiday season, with yard utilization expected to hover below the optimum level. Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said yard utilization rate is expected to hover around 55 percent to 60 percent until after the Christmas season. “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,” he said. Even the anticipated tight security measures brought about by the meeting of the Asean heads of states in the middle of November, which is expected to disrupt the vessel and transport delivery movements, is not expected to make a significant dent in congesting the Manila ports. Also, the decision of the Bureau of Customs to temporarily shut down its Green Lane operations, as well as subjecting the majority of imported cargoes to inspection, is not expected to disrupt the smooth flow of goods to and from the terminals.
Currently, productivity at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), the Manila South Harbor (MSH) and the Manila North Port (MNP) continue to be strong and no slowdown is expected even with the Christmas rush. Currently, the combined yard utilization at the two international Manila ports MICT and MSH is at 60.12 percent, or about 20 percent below the optimum level of 80 percent. “It is also worthy to note that both terminals posted at least a 10- percent increase in their respective productivity as of end-September, suggesting a fully functional Manila ports,” Santiago said. The 60.12-percent utilization rate means that some 48,900 containers are inside terminal, while 32,600 container slots remain vacant. “The premier domestic terminal, the MNP, has a yard utilization rate of 43.40 percent, giving the port enough elbow room for anticipated increase in demand at this point in time,” Santiago added. To date, total container volume reached 4.609 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The volume is higher by 8.84 percent compared to the 4.235 million TEUs handled in the same period last year. About 85 percent of the total, or some 3.917 million TEU,s 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 is anticipating a modest increase in cargo volume of about 5 percent to 7 percent after revising a flat growth forecast early this year.
