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Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority recorded a 15% year-on-year increase in revenues from seaport operations in the first nine months of this year
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Container volume rose 11.7% to 69,355 twenty-foot equivalent units in the third quarter of 2021 from the second quarter
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Non-containerized volume decreased by 10% in the first nine months of 2021 but liquid bulk petroleum volumes grew 18%
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SBMA expects cargo volumes and revenues to continue growing this year
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) recorded a 15.4% year-on-year increase in revenues from seaport operations in the first nine months of this year on the back of high container traffic.
The SBMA Seaport Department took in revenues of more than P997 million in January to September 2021 from P863.7 million earnings posted year-on-year, SBMA chairman and administrator Wilma Eisma said in a statement.
“The increase in container traffic definitely carried the day for Subic because it also helped us realize increases in processing fees, SBMA shares from the operation of the container terminal, as well as leases,” Eisma said.
“The positive figures in these revenue sources had offset decreases in other areas like non-containerized cargo, which has markedly [fallen] since the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.
Eisma said SBMA further expects container traffic—and Subic port revenue—to grow this year, as third quarter figures placed container cargo volume at 69,355 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) compared to 62,103 TEUs in the second quarter.
“The (almost) 12% increase in containerized cargo volume corresponded to an 11% increase in our port revenue, which grew from P317.2 million in the second quarter to P351.9 million in the third quarter. And so far, this upward trend continues,” she added.
According to a report from the SBMA Operations Group, the biggest income earner for Subic seaport was the agency’s share from container terminal operations, which yielded P302.3 million in January to September this year.
The container terminal operation was buoyed by a 32% increase in exports, from 24,951 TEUs in January-September 2020 to 32,891 TEUs this year, and a 16% rise in imports that grew from 77,663 TEUs last year to 90,019 TEUs this year.
The next biggest income sources for the SBMA sea port were lease rentals, which brought in P252 million, cargo charges with P248.1 million, and vessel charges with P126.1 million.
SBMA senior deputy administrator for operations Ronnie Yambao said SBMA shares registered a 46% growth this year over the January-September 2020 record because of increased cargo handling fees, hauling and variable fees, even as a slight dip of 0.4% was noted in foreign container vessel ship calls in the same period.
Processing fees, cargo charges and lease rentals, meanwhile, showed respective increases of 11%, 3%, and 11%, Yambao added.
Non-containerized volume, however, decreased by 10% in the first nine months of 2021, or from 5.39 million metric tons (MT) in the first three quarters of 2020 to 4.86 million MT in the same period this year. Yambao said the liquid bulk petroleum sector defied the downtrend with an 18% increase, or from 1.84 million MT in the first nine months of last year to 2.17 million MT this year.
The SBMA Trade Facilitation and Compliance Department (TFCD), which handles import and export transactions in the Subic Bay Freeport, also reported revenue growth from P83.66 million in the first three quarters of 2020 to P104.22 million in 2021.
TFCD manager Anna Joy Quito attributed the 25% increase to the increase in import-export fees and admission fees brought about by the gradual reopening of the economy.
TFCD records showed a 67% increase in Subic export transactions, from $630 million in 2020 to $1.05 billion in 2021, and a 52% rise in importations, from $815.9 million in 2020 to $1.24 billion in 2021.
