Cargo volumes hit 125.69 MMTs
MANILA – The country’s cargo volume from January to September this year has hit the 125.699 million metric tons (mmt), up by 12.45 percent from last year’s 11.696 mmt.
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) attributed the strong growth to the improvements in the country’s export sector those cargo volumes has hit the 30.219 mmt, or 32.66 percent higher than the 22.779 mmt netted last year
Import cargo also went up by 13.17 percent to 41.069 mmt from last year’s 36.291 mmt.
Domestic cargo reached 54.310 mmt, slightly higher than the 52.624 mmt posted in January to September last year.
Foreign cargoes grew almost 20.68 percent to 71.289 mmt from 59.071 mmt.
PPA-controlled ports handled 43.83 percent or 55.06 mmt of the total throughput while South Harbor and the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) processed 6.49 mmt and 13.76 mmt, respectively.
Private facilities handled 70.54 mmt or 56.17 percent of the total and other government ports, the rest 34.80 mmt.
Significant increases in volume were recorded in almost all ports, particularly in Zamboanga, San Fernando, Surigao, Tacloban, Calapan, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Ozamiz and MICT.
Containerized cargo for the nine-month in 2010 reached 3.357 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 16.55 percent from last year’s 2.88 million TEUs.
Foreign container volume jumped 22.21 percent from 1.729 million TEUs to 2.113 million TEUs while domestic container traffic also increased 8.04 percent from 1.151 million TEUs to 1.243 million TEUs.
Total passenger traffic for the period in review reached 38.02 million or 16.54 percent higher than the figure posted last year.
The port regulator credited the rise to calls by Supercraft 25 of Supercat Fast Ferry Corp. at the Port of Orion starting April this year.*PNA
