APL looks forward to next 100 years of container shipping in PH

APL, a unit of the world’s third biggest container shipping firm, Marseille, France-based CMA CGM Group, has been operating in the Philippines for 100 years and looks forward to navigating its next century.

The company now projects to increase its current volume of 200,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) by 10 per cent annually, Nicolas Sartini, Chief Executive Officer, APL Co. Pte Ltd announced.

APL connects the Philippines with key trade partners such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, North America, Europe and Singapore through eight Intra-Asia services.

These services offer competitive transit times and relay shipments to destinations such as the Middle East, Europe, the Mediterranean and North America via transshipment hubs across Asia.

Its China Southeast Asia Service 5 (CS5) allows direct shipments between North and Central China and Manila while the China Southeast Asia Service 3 (CS3), China Southeast Asia 6 (CS6), Japan Taiwan Service 6 (JT6) and the South Philippines Express (SPX) facilitate Manila’s trade with China and Southeast Asia.

The Philippines plays a big role in carrier’s global shipping operations because APL’s Pricing Administration Center (PAC) is based here.

The PAC, the backbone of its operations, is the only center that manages all tariff applications and regulatory compliance for APL’s global business.

Hence, APL intends to develop this local hub as it seeks both domestic and international growth.

At present, six local offices across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao support APL. And “We will offer the best shipping services and solutions to take our shippers’ cargo to places,” Sartini pledged.

APL is committed to keep pioneering shipping solutions to develop the local industry, identifying domestic partners to extend its reach to more ports and facilitating trading by opening new services, he underscored

“We have laid a firm foundation in the Philippines since we established our presence here in 1917,” the CEO elaborated. “Now, we are a leading ocean carrier in the market because of the trust of our customers and the service that we deliver.”

From being the first international shipping line to support the Subic Bay Freeport Zone development to pioneering vessel calls across her main local ports, APL has been instrumental in shaping the country’s container shipping sector in the last century, he pointed out.

“APL will build on our trusted name and persevere in pioneering ocean transportation solutions as we navigate the next 100 years in the Philippines.”(EVA)