ICTSI links Subic Port to East Asia

Harnessing the strategic location of the Port of Subic in regional trade operations, the Subic Bay International Terminals (SBITC) has linked Subic Port to East Asia as it joined joined shipping firm Ocean Network Express' (ONE) China Thailand Philippines (CTP) service.

According to the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), SBITC'S parent company, the CTP service links the Subic Port to East Asia, and gives a direct link from Thailand to Subic through the Laem Chabang port.

The service rotates from Laem Chabang (Thailand), Cai Mep (Vietnam), Manila (Philippines), Subic (Philippines), Qingdao (China), Pusan (South Korea), Shanghai (China), then back to Laem Chabang, with a turnaround time of 28 days.

The new service also seeks to complement the existing Philippines and Singapore route for trade and shipments between the countries, added ICTSI.

The inaugural CTP service call to SBITC was held on March 26 with MARINA ONE, a 2,741 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) boxship, docking at the port.

The CTP service uses four 2,400 to 2,700 TEU vessels, operated by a consortium comprising ONE and Regional Container Lines (RCL).

SBITC is situated between the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales "with access to major intra-asia shipping routes, and serves as the gateway to northern and central Luzon," described the firm.

ICTSI'S subsidiary SBITC was granted the concessions for the New Container Terminal (NCT) 1 in 2007, then the NCT 2 in 2011 by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), aligned with the Subic Port Development Project.

SBITC'S operations in NCT 1 and 2 have enabled the company to streamline operations to serve customers and the economies of the Central and Northern Luzon regions, while supporting the port operations in Metro Manila.