CEBU, Philippines - The transportation industry in Central Visayas recorded an improving performance in the first six months of this year.
Latest record from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) showed that the shipping industry continued to recover as the number of domestic shipcalls increased at a double digit rate.
Likewise, foreign shipcalls also made a turnaround from a negative growth in 2011, indicating that port activities in the region picked up at the start of the year.
There had especially been noted an increase in foreign vessel traffic in the Port of Tagbilaran and in the Port of the Philippine Mining Service Corporation in Alcoy, Cebu.
Vessel traffic also increased in Matiao Port in Sibulan, Negros Oriental as additional vessels were deployed by Maayo Shipping, Inc.
According to NEDA-7, the sustained growth of the shipping industry could be partly the result of the recovery of the export sector.
Foreign container traffic increased by 6.2 percent in the first half of 2012 after posting a negative growth in the same period in 2011.
Meanwhile, the aviation industry remained upbeat as airline companies proceeded with their expansion plans to take advantage of the increasing tourism market.
The NEDA-7 report said that Mid-Sea Express, for instance, started to serve the Bantayan Island-Mainland route with three times weekly flights. This will bring in more tourists via air transportation to the tourism hotspot –Bantayan Island in the northern tip of Cebu province.
Another airline company, the Eagle Transasia Airways also began operations in the region through its daily flights from Cebu to Tacloban and vice-versa.
Cebu Pacific, which has already an extensive domestic network of routes, expanded operations by increasing the capacity of their existing flights from Cebu to some destinations such as Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, and General Santos.
Cebu Pacific has also upgraded the aircraft serving these destinations to Airbus 320 from Airbus 319 in order to accommodate more passengers.
With increased aircraft capacity and more routes, domestic and international passengers traffic in the region went up by 12.1 percent and 11.9 percent respectively in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period of 2011. — (FREEMAN)