YARD utilization at the Manila South Harbor has reached its optimal level this month, after industry stakeholders collaborated to free up the port and ease cargo flow.
In a statement, port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) said yard utilization at the Manila South Harbor was at 65 percent as of Monday, a significant drop from the high 90-percent rate in previous weeks.
ATI said this is thanks to “concrete steps taken by its stakeholders, the cooperation of importers and the support of the Bureau of Customs [BOC] and the Philippine Ports Authority [PPA].”
Last month, the port operator and six international shipping lines decided to share vessels and optimize terminal resources to remove 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of the empty containers from Manila every week.
The company is also eyeing to transfer more overstaying boxed cargoes from Manila to Batangas in the coming weeks, after the BOC approved the relocation of 470 TEUs of cargo in the past weeks.
“ATI is currently complementing ongoing port-efficiency measures by developing more container yard facilities outside the Port of Manila, which are expected to be operational by the second quarter,” the company’s statement read. It noted it is likewise expanding the role of its Santa Mesa container yard to accommodate cleared overstaying laden boxes, in accordance with recent directives of the port regulator.