ASIAN Terminals Inc., the operator of Manila South Harbor and Batangas Port, registered a 9.1-percent increase in net income to P1.43 billion during the first nine months of 2016, thanks to favorable volume growth in the ports it operates.
The company’s revenues, which stood at P6.8 billion, were 10.8 percent higher compared to the P6.1 billion the year prior, as Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal registered higher volumes, and Batangas Port booking increased international roll-on, roll-off cargoes.
Excluding the foreign-exchange gain attributable to port-concession rights payable, net income would have been P1.6 billion for the first nine months of 2016, 13.9 percent higher than the P1.36 billion registered for the same period last year.
In September Manila South Harbor made history as it handled over 100,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of international containers for the first time in a single month, while maintaining world-class production levels. Prior to this, it twice broke its all-time record volume, handling over 94,000 TEUs in May and in excess of 95,000 TEUs in June.
Despite the significant increase in volume, Manila South Harbor’s production averaged above the industry standard of 25 gross moves per crane per hour (GMPH), and even recorded world-class levels of over 30 GMPH in several months, which are comparable to the production of leading global ports in Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Production is measured by how many containers a crane moves from ship to shore per hour. Higher GMPH reflects efficient handling of containers at berth, which redounds to faster turnaround of ships and trucks, and ultimately quicker delivery of goods to consignees.
ATI also attributes its record achievement to the highly effective Terminal Appointment Booking System, an online scheduling facility for the orderly delivery and pullout of containers at the terminal, which has fast-tracked transactions at Manila’s international gateway ports without causing heavy traffic on local roads.