PortCalls

Philippine Air Freight Traffic nears 100M kg in 1st sem

Yusen Air and Sea Services leads top ten list of forwarders
INTERNATIONAL air freight forwarders operating in the Philippines moved nearly a 100 million kilograms (kg) of cargo from January to June this year, according to preliminary statistics from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).
Comparative figures were not available, as this is the first time CAB reported statistics for the first semester of any year. Normally, it gathers data for the entire year.
The statistics were culled from 123 air freight forwarders, more than 50% of the total registered with the CAB.
A total of 90,825,091 kg was moved for the first six months of the year, 28.13% of which were imported break bulk cargoes (25,548,133 kg).
Consolidated shipments reached 40,795,982 kg while direct shipments hit 24,480,977 kg or 26.95% of the total. This brought export traffic to 65,276,959 kgs or 71.87% of the total air freight cargo that came in and went out of the Philippines.
Yusen Air and Sea Services carried the most cargoes for the first six months, outstripping close contenders Nippon Express Philippines Corp. and Airlift Asia, Inc. Last year, Yusen was in third place.
The company moved 18,600,757 kg for the period, of which 14,411,153 kg were total direct shipments. Consolidated shipments were 3,072,689 kg while imports were at 1,116,916 kg.
Last year's top air freight forwarder Nippon Express landed in second place for the first semester, moving a total of 12,768,135 kg. Imports were at 7,789,989 kg.
The company's total export load was 4,978,146 kg, 148,368 kg of which were direct shipments while the remaining 4,829,778 kg were consolidated cargoes.
Third placer Airlift Asia, Inc. reported handling 7,589,935 kg for the period in review. Its export shipments totaled 5,442,136 kg.
Climbing to fourth spot from 16th place last year was Danzas AEI, Inc. which handled 5,288,189 kg. Figures for the six-month period alone (3,043,934 kg) grew twice as much as the full-year total in 2002. Breakbulk imports were 2,591,808 kg. Consolidated shipments, on the other hand, reached 2,696,381 kg.
Exel Philippines, Inc. came in fifth with total shipments of 4,409,288 kg, 1,208,402 kg of which were breakbulk, 3,106,370 kg consolidated and 94,516 kg direct shipments.
From ninth spot in 2002, Emery Transnational Air Cargo Corp. climbed three notches higher to sixth place with a total of 3,452,183 kg. Most shipments were consolidated totaling 2,178,375 kg. The company reported handling 255,909 kg direct shipments and 1,017,899 kg breakbulk cargoes.
U-Freight Philippines, Inc. and Bax Global Phils., Inc. swapped positions from last year, and are now in seventh and eighth places, moving 3,413,281 kg and 2,792,520 kg, respectively.
Also in top ten were Kintetsu World Express Phils., Inc., which handled 2,757,257 kg and Expeditors Philippines with 2,578,431 kg.

Cebu handles 4.8% more boxes from Jan-Sept

THE Cebu Port Authority (CPA) registered a 4.8% increase in container traffic to 353,740 TEUs from 337,549 TEUs in the first three quarters of the year.
Domestic containers posted a 2.64% growth from 257,588 TEUs to 264,398 TEUs. Foreign-bound containers reached 89,342 TEUs, up 11.73% from last year's 79,961 TEUs.
For the nine-month period, cargo throughput declined slightly by 2.03% to 12,126,258 MT from 12,377,662 MT. Domestic-bound cargoes fell 5.15% while foreign cargoes jumped 10.83%.
For the third quarter alone, a 6.55% increase in container traffic was registered - to 124,662 TEUs from 116,999 TEUs in the same quarter last year. Compared to the second quarter's 117,289 TEUs, third-quarter container traffic was 6.29% more.
From July to September, containers bound for interisland transport totaled 90,204 TEUs, slightly lower by 0.03% from last year's third-quarter figure of 90,234 TEUs. Foreign-bound container shipment posted a robust growth of 28.74% from 26,765 TEUs to 34,458 TEUs.
Cargo throughput slipped 18.83% from 5,876,383 metric tons (MT) to 4,769,853 MT. Domestic cargoes were down 22.2% to 3,653,709 MT from 4,696,078 MT. Inbound and outbound cargoes also suffered a 5% and 34.35% decline, respectively.
Foreign-bound cargoes also posted a negative variance of 5.44%, at 1,116,144 MT compared with last year's third-quarter figure of 1,180,305 MT. Exports and imports handled by the Cebu port fell 25.34% and 19.94%, respectively.
Total cargo throughput for the third quarter was 19.41% more than the second-quarter cargo volume of 3,994,649 MT.
Vessels calling the port of Cebu went up 21.75% from 15,832 to 19,276. Interisland vessels increased 22% and international shipcalls, 4.19%.
Foreign vessels docking at the port, however, fell slightly by 1.16% for the nine-month period. - Maritess R. Mesias

WG&A Jan-Sept income down 19.5%

WG&A Phils. posted a consolidated net income after tax of P255 million for the three quarters ending September 30, 2003, down 19.5% from the P317 million income reported during the same period last year.
Revenues were higher but these were offset by higher fuel cost, higher depreciation, foreign exchange loss on the company's container lease obligation, higher interest expense from the financing of Superferry 15 and 16, and retrenchment pay of Cebu Ferries Corp. employees.
Consolidated net revenues of P5.6 billion for the three quarters of 2003 registered a 6% hike, P312 million above the P5.3 billion net revenues reported during the same period last year. This despite fewer voyages completed during the three quarters of 2003 brought about by scheduled drydocking of four vessels and technical downtime of one vessel.
Passage operations posted a revenue growth of 5%, from P2.62 billion in 2002 to P2.74 billion in 2003. Freight operations also registered an increase in revenue of 7% from P2.7 billion in 2002 to P2.9 billion in 2003.
Total operating and administrative costs for the three quarters grew to P5.2 billion, 9% more than the P4.7 billion expenses during the same period last year.

Customs outlines anti-smuggling measures

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) defended recently its anti-smuggling measures in the face of complaints by the Fair Trade Alliance (FTA).
Customs Commissioner Antonio M. Bernardo said the bureau has already closed down 992 warehouses in three months after these were proven to have violated the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines. The figure is more than half the total number of Customs Bonded Trading Warehouses (CBTWs) operating in the country.
"Customs is phasing out general CBTWs and are replacing them with industry-specific ones tightly-controlled and monitored by the government," he noted.
FTA recently questioned BOC on the existence of certain CBTWs allegedly used as a front for smuggling.
The group also claimed about P200 billion is lost every year to smugglers, an amount "sufficient to cover up the government's fiscal deficit."
It pointed out that thousands in the shoe, garlic and textiles industry have lost their jobs due to the influx of undervalued and smuggled goods from China.
"Since the 1970s, there were about 200 textile companies operating in the country, but today there are only ten left. The entire garlic industry has also been wiped out and the onion industry is threatened to extinction, as does the shoe industry," FTA said.

Batangas port eyes 400,000 TEUs by 2008

BATANGAS port is looking at handling 400,000 TEUs by 2008, upon completion of its Phase II development project.
"The Batangas port is designed to cater even to post-panamax vessels. Such ships cannot dock at the port of Manila because of its shallow waters. Considering this, the target volume for international cargoes is a possibility," said Batangas Port Development Phase II Project director Tomas B. Carlos.
Package I of Phase II requires dredging to achieve a 15-meter draft.
The port is also eyeing to service vessels carrying goods bound for the manufacturing plants in the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batnags, Rizal and Quezon) area.
Two years ago, the port handled 0.81 metric tons (MT) of domestic cargoes, 0.24 MT foreign cargoes and 2.61 million passengers. This was lower compared with figures in 2000 when domestic cargoes were at 0.86 MT, foreign at 0.26 MT, and passengers, 2.8 million.

Phividec set to re-bid contract for operation of Mindanao terminal

THE Phividec Industrial Authority will re-bid the operation and management of Mindanao Container Terminal Port (MCTP) in Misamis Oriental as the initial exercise only had one qualified bidder - Asian Terminals, Inc. (ATI).
The contract involves management and operation of the MCTP for a period of 20 to 25 years.
The P4.4-billion Mindanao Container Terminal Project will handle both international and domestic volume. The terminal will have an annual capacity of 270,000 TEUs and a draft of 12 meters to accommodate post-panamax vessels.

Ocean shipping forecast: 120 M TEUs by 2011

Ocean carriers are expected to handle around 120 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) by 2011 from the present volume of 74 million TEUs, according to APL Philippines Regional Sales director Edgar Milla during the recently concluded PortCalls Cargo Economics Conference at the Hyatt Regency Manila.
He said Asia is expected to gobble up half of global containerized exports in the next ten years, adding this would mean more opportunities as well greater competition for ocean carriers.
"The rising cost of labor in the so-called developing nations has led to a migration of sourcing and production to lower cost and increasingly high-quality regions, primarily in Asia," he noted.
This has transformed the dynamics of world trade as indicated by the robust growth in container volumes from Asia to the US and to Europe over the past few years, he added.
Milla also sees an increase in capacity building by 2006. "Come 2006, newbuildings including the ultra-large container ships are scheduled to enter the global market. This will ease the immediate capacity problems, but forecast growth especially from China means that new capacity will be absorbed quickly," he said.
As a result, ports and terminals and other port infrastructure will have to be upgraded. This will also make the ocean carriers' job far more complex, he said.
"Proximity to demand locations, deeper draft, new equipment, low costs and hinterland connectivity are just some of the increasingly important factors for ocean carriers when planning their networks," he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Milla said while Philippine exports remain robust, there is the need to re-evaluate strategies for competiveness - both in traditional and new industries.
In terms of foreign investments, he said, the Philippines remains a viable alternative to China. "According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, foreign investment is set to rebound to more than $2 billion over the next few years," he noted.

ICTSI chosen by Forbes as one of world's "rising companies"

FORBES Global has selected global maritime port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) as one of world's 200 "Best Under a Billion" companies in 2003.
Only two Philippine companies - ICTSI and iPeople, an IT firm of the Yuchengco Group - made it to this year's register. Of the 200 in the list, 80 are from Asia.
Every year, editors of the New York-based business magazine scrutinize thousands of publicly traded companies outside the US with annual sales of below US$1 billion. This year, the selection was made from 19,000 companies, with the editors aiming to select businesses that, in 2002, were profitable and rewarded shareholders. The companies were also scrutinized based on their earnings and sales growth.
This is ICTSI's second citation from Forbes. In 1997, Forbes selected ICTSI as one of the world's "100 Best Small Foreign Companies."

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