Batangas port eyes 50% growth in 2015

0
567

Batangas Port 1Batangas port expects to handle 150,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2015 following its record volume of almost 100,000 TEUs last year, according to one of its officials.

Batangas Container Terminal (BCT) operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) said the port handled 98,310 TEUs in 2014, 792% more than the 11,020 TEUs recorded in 2013.

During the Feb 11 port visit of Philippine Ports and Shipping 2015 delegates, BCT marketing manager Reginald Rivera said he expects volume to reach at least 150,000 TEUs, noting that high traffic has continued into this year with January volume posted at 12,175 TEUs. This is a surge of 1,209% from 903 TEUs in January last year.

The port also saw its accounts ballooning to 800 in 2014 — coming from the areas of Sta. Rosa, Cabuyao, and Malvar, among others — from only 62 in 2013.

“It’s crucial in a sense that the volume I have right now is not artificial or temporary. The locators have seen that Batangas works,” Rivera said.

He added that this volume, coming from the initial target areas, is “here to stay even if things begin to normalize in Manila.”

Manila ports have been hit by congestion, spawned by the Feb 2014 imposition of the Manila daytime truck ban. The ban was lifted in September but by then the container pileup problem has gotten so big that Manila ports to this day are still grappling with congestion, although considerably less than in the previous months.

The situation has pushed some shippers to use Batangas and Subic ports instead.

To keep pace with the growing volume, ATI has added two side loaders and two reach stackers, as well as eight tractor vehicles to the existing six in BCT.

As for yard space, Rivera said the port will now be able to use the three hectares previously occupied by “long stayers,” or containers that have been in the port for more than 20 days, since “the issue [of high utilization] has been resolved.”

Since BCT implemented a system upgrade to NAVIS Sparcs in November 2014, Rivera said the port has sped up its service of vessels, and is now doing 35 berth moves per hour (BMPH), compared to 18 to 25 BMPH at the Manila ports.

Prior to the system upgrade that interlinks the gate, yard, and vessels at the port, BCT was doing 21.16 BMPH. Yard utilization has also gone down (60% to 70%).

Moreover, BCT has additional equipment operators to enable the port to conduct 24/7 operations.

As for the issue of insufficient trucking operations in Batangas Rivera, who will soon be transferred to ATI’s Manila office, said 175 trucking companies now provide services from only seven previously.

Intra-Asia carriers MCC Transport and SITC directly call BCT weekly. “All locators using these services will not have to queue in Manila”, Rivera said, where this is still a concern. – Text and photo by Roumina Pablo