Cargo traffic at the country’s ports rose by more than a 10th last year, thanks to the strong performance of Philippine exports in 2016,
Data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed the country’s cargo volume increased by 12 percent to 249.567 million metric tons (MMT) in 2016, from 223.672 MMT the year prior.
PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago attributed the growth to higher export cargoes, which now comprise 49 percent of the total cargo volume handled by the different ports nationwide.
It increased by 23 percent for the entire 2016 period, from 60.855 MMT to 74.822 MMT registered a year earlier.
Import volume, on the other hand, contributed 51 percent to the total, after posting a 4-percent increase to 76.781 MMT, from 73.765 MMT in 2015. “These are very encouraging figures, particularly the export data, which suggests that the sector is very healthy,” Santiago said.
Of the total cargo volume last year, foreign cargoes accounted for 151.604 MMT, or an increase of 12.62 percent versus the 134.620 MMT handled in 2015, while domestic cargoes contributed 97.963 MMT, from 89.051 MMT, or an improvement of 10 percent.
“Trade imbalance has been glaring the past couple of years in favor of imports, and in 2016 we saw that both sector is almost on equal footing,” Santiago said.
“Nonetheless, the PPA is committed to continue streamlining procedures in favor of the cargo owners in our bid to lure them to bring in and ship out more cargoes, this year,” he added.
Container volume, meanwhile, also posted positive figures, rising 12 percent to 6.574 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), from 5.861 million TEUs handled in 2015.
Foreign containers grew by 14.11 percent to 3.973 million TEUs, while domestic boxes rose 9.28 percent to 2.6 million TEUs.
Total import boxes is at 2.005 million TEUs, while export containers is at 1.968 million TEUs, wherein both posted increases of 15.4 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively.
Among the ports that registered strong performance include the Manila International Container Terminal and the Manila South Harbor for international cargoes, North Harbor for domestic cargoes, as well as Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Iloilo.
Passenger traffic, on the other hand, increased by 8.51 percent to 68.101 million, owing primarily to increasing number of cruise-ship arrivals in the country.
Foreign passage volume went up by 8.678 percent to 33.221 million, while domestic passage traffic inches up by 8.34 percent to 34.879 million.
Santiago attributed the increase to the “government’s ecotourism programs encouraging leisure travel to tourist destinations, such as Boracay, Puerto Galera, Coron, El Nido, and other emerging tourism sites”.
A total of 430,451 vessels were serviced nationwide, which rose 35,356, or 8.95 percent, with both domestic and foreign ship calls posting growth of 8.60 percent and 22.08 percent, respectively.
“The improved vessel traffic was a result of increased number of trips of passenger vessels, as well as the increased shipment of prime commodities, like rice, cement, molasses, fertilizers and fuel, among others,” Santiago said.
