Strong imports boost October cargo volume

High imports of consumer products, from Christmas goods and foodstuff, boosted Philippine cargo throughput by 6% as of October, 2016, according to latest data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).

On the other hand, foreign passenger volume also surged double-digit with increased cruise ship arrivals bringing in more tourists. Cargo throughput reached 198.441 million metric tons (mmt) for the 10-month period compared to the 187.209 mmt in the same period in 2015.

Foreign cargo, composed of import and export shipments, totaled 124.581 mmt or 8.58% higher than the 114.732 mmt posted a year earlier, wherein import volume registered a 13.31% increase while exports posted a 3.24% hike.

Domestic cargoes, on the other hand, inched up modestly with a 1.91% growth rate to 73.859 mmt from 72.476 mmt handled in 2015. Container traffic, meanwhile, also posted a modest increase of 8.46% to 5.182 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the period in review as compared to the 4.778 million TEUs processed in the same period of 2015.

Foreign boxes posted an 11.06% hike in volume to 3.173 million TEUs from 2.857 million TEUs wherein foreign containers contributed 1.607 million TEUs or 13.13% higher than its 2015 figure while export boxes totaled 1.566 million TEUs or 9.02% higher than the 1.436 million TEUs handled in the same 10-month period in 2015. Similarly, domestic containerized traffic inched higher after registering a 4.6% growth to 2.009 million TEUs from 1.920 million TEUs in 2015.

Among the ports registering positive deviation, include North Harbor, South Harbor, Bataan/Aurora, Agusan, Surigao and Zamboanga as well as Batangas, Limay, Cagayan de Oro and Pulupandan.

The Manila International Container Terminal handled the largest volume of containerized cargo for the period in review at 1.786 million TEUs followed by South Harbor with 866,674 TEUs and Batangas with 127,160 TEUs.

North Harbor continues to rank first in terms of volume of domestic containerized cargo handled during the period with 1.016 million TEUs.

On the other hand, total passengers embarking and disembarking at Philippine ports totaled 53.792 million as of end-October, 2015. Domestic passengers numbered 53.708 million, up 8.31%; foreign passengers numbered 83,283, up 22.36%.

Nationwide shipcalls likewise rose 4.98% to 333,630 from 317,806 in 2015. Foreign-flag ships totalled 9,713 calls, up 16.23% while domestic shipcalls registered a 4.68% hike with 323,917 calls from 309,449 calls. (EVA)