Logistics services demand high
FILIPINAS Port Services (FPS) said there is an increasing demand for warehouses and trucking services in Davao City as more investors put up shop in Davao City.
During the Kapehan sa Dabaw weekly forum at SM City Davao yesterday, FPS President Harry Lopez Chua said they have several Manila-based clients looking for vacant warehouses in Davao City that are up for leasing. Others are even looking into investing to vacant lots for construction of their own warehouses.
Prices for lands in the city had gone up since the fast arrival of investors in the city regardless from which industry they are from said Chua. However interested clients investing on warehousing have since started to increase as well.
“Davao Sasa Port is very unique because it has two operators. It has semblance of fair competition and I think that’s an important requirement in the modernization because clients should have choices. We’re the only port nationwide that has two players or two service providers,” said Chua adding Davao Sasa Port is ideal for local shipping lines and its location is strategic for distribution of agricultural products like bananas that are known to be one of the top export products of Davao.
Chua said FPS has noted an increase in its volume of cargo shipped in and out the country last year compared to 2015. The increase showed the high demands for trucking and local shipment services.
As of last year they had been handling three vessels of cargo weekly, in comparison to the two vessels of cargo being handled weekly for 2015.
However, Chua also said Davao Sasa Port is already in dire need of its modernization development.
“It’s long overdue. We’ve been waiting for that. We strongly support the government’s direction to modernize Sasa Port… If we have the modernized equipment there, the faster turn-around of the ship will benefit everybody: the users and the shipping lines. Cost will be reduced also,” he said.
He pointed out that Panabo Port is highly MACKY LIM modernized and can accommodate bigger volumes of cargo and foreign vessels. He is hoping that with the future development and modernization of Sasa Port, it will be able to do the same.