Manila port utilization up amid congestion

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration has successfully improved the movement of goods at the ports of Manila but would continue to implement measures to further address congestion at the gateways despite the lifting of the truck ban by the city government of Manila.

In his keynote speech during The Ports Summit organized by the Port Users Confederation, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the movement of goods going outside the ports increased to 6,700 to 7,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) while arrivals continued to hover around 5,000 TEUs since the truck ban was lifted last Sept. 13.

According to Abaya, yard utilization currently stands between 85 percent and 90 percent with about 69,000 to 73,000 TEUs still inside the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).

The government still needs to clear about 10 percent or about 6,900 TEUs to 7,300 TEUs to reach the ideal 80 percent yard utilization, Abaya said.

He added that vessel dwell time at the ports remained at 20 hours while waiting time at anchorage is still relatively high at seven to nine days.

Yard utilization at the ports of Manila surged to 100 percent or 81,000 TEUs from only 47 percent or 38,000 TEUs six weeks after the city government of Manila imposed the truck ban in February.

Port productivity plummeted to 10 to 12 moves an hour from 20 to 25 moves an hour and increased vessel waiting time between eight days and 14 days while the number of vessels at queue went up to at least 20 vessels from the usual three to five vessels.

Daily gate outs was reduced to 3,900 TEUs from 5,000 to 6,000 TEUs. Aside from the local pile up, Philippine-bound containers likewise started to pile-up at foreign ports like Hong Kong and Singapore.

The DOTC chief said ICTSI and Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) are working double time to reduce the number of ships to at least half in the next couple of weeks as it also slowly take in the held-up cargoes at foreign ports as well as the peak season cargo leading to the Christmas season.

He explained that the throughput is a more accurate measure of port operations instead of yard utilization.