Cargo volume up 3% in 2013 – PPA

MANILA, Philippines - Volume of cargo shipped in and out of the Philippines went up by three percent as the country recorded a stronger than expected economic growth last year, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) reported yesterday.

PPA data showed that cargo volume reached 199.18 million metric tons last year or 5.74 million higher than the 193.44 million MT recorded in 2012.

Cargo shipped within the Philippines inched up by 1.44 percent to 76.77 million MT from 75.69 million MT while cargo shipped in and out of the country climbed 3.95 percent to 122.4 million MT from 117.75 million MT.

PPA general manager Juan Sta. Ana said the growth in cargo volume came from the robust exports and imports amid the sustained gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year.

“It is worth noting that as of the end of 2013, both import and export grew by 3.25 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively,” Sta. Ana said.

Private ports handled 122.16 million MT accounting for 61.3 percent of the total cargo volume last year while government-run ports handled 77.02million MT for a share of 38.7 percent.

Sta. Ana pointed out that a substantial increase were noted in 14 port management offices with Tagbilaran leading the way with 61 percent followed by Nasipit with 22.6 percent, and San Fernando with 17 percent.

The increase was due to the increase in the domestic shipments of aggregates, heavy equipment, construction materials, limestone ores, nickel ore and crude palm oil, coal, and sand.

In terms of cargo volume, PPA data showed that Surigao was the top performer with 30.55 million MT for a share of 15.3 percent, surpassing the total throughput of the port district offices in the Visayas and Southern Mindanao .

Batangas was next with 21.42 million followed by North Harbor with 19.5 million MT, and Limay with 16.35 million MT.

Among the base ports, North Harbor ranked first in terms of domestic containerized cargo handled with 899,399 TEUs while the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) ranked first in terms of foreign containerized cargo handled with 1.9 million TEUs.

The PPA reported that shipcalls rose 3.7 percent to 356,299 last year from a year-ago level of 343,552.

PPA revenues jumped 18.8 percent to P11.04 billion last year from P9.29 billion in 2012 while expenses climbed 8.43 percent to P5.51 billion from P5.08 billion.

This resulted 10 a 31.2 percent jump in net income to P5.54 billion last year from P4.22 billion in 2012.