Natural cove protects port from bad weather

While most of Manila’s ports rely on the breakwater to protect them from the open sea, especially during bad weather, one port has been developed to utilize Manila Bay’s natural cove to ensure safe anchorage for ships, even during inclement weather.

Harbour Centre Port, the first and the most modern private commercial port in Manila, was masterplanned by world-renowned engineering consultants to make use of the cove surrounding the Manila Bay. The port, located within the 15-hectare multi-use commercial industrial estate Manila Harbour Centre, was strategically positioned inside the cove to provide natural barrier from inclement weather during safe-to-dock/stable seawater conditions.

"From the initial stages of development, our consultants saw the advantage of the natural cove and used this to build a port where it’s safe to dock practically anytime of the year," explains Michael Romero, CEO of Harbour Centre Port.

Thus, both domestic and international ships can dock safely at Harbour Centre anytime, unless the Philippine Ports Authority issues a notice for Philippine ports to temporarily cease operations due to typhoon.

At present, almost 80 percent of foreign non-containerized cargoes entering Manila and the Philippines are now docking at Harbour Centre due to the port’s expansive and state-of-the-art facilities.

Harbour Centre Port boasts of deep berthing drafts of -10.5 to -12.5 MLLW. It also features a world-class working apron measuring 865 linear meters in length by 45 meters in width; and a 15-hectare back up area capable of storing 3,000,000 tons of cargoes and 400,000 TEU’s of containers.

The port also has a truck holding area that can fit in up to 500 trucks at a time. Harbour Centre also owns a total of 35 forklifts of various capacities, including the P250-million Gottwald Harbour Mobile Crane.