Asian Terminals announces double-digit Q1 income, revenue growth

0
1197
Revenues from Manila South Harbor’s (in photo) international containerized cargo operations and from Batangas Container Terminal grew by 4.2% and 22.6%, respectively, in the first three months of 2018 year-on-year on account of higher volumes. Photo courtesy of terminal operator Asian Terminals Inc.

Philippine port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) reported an 18.6% higher net income for the first quarter of 2018 to P581.9 million, a boost from P490.5 million in the same period last year.

Revenues for the first quarter of 2018 went up 14.6% to P2.647 billion from P2.31 billion in the same period last year.

ATI in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange said revenues from Manila South Harbor’s international containerized cargo operations and from Batangas Container Terminal (BCT) grew by 4.2% and 22.6%, respectively, in the first three months of 2018 year-on-year on account of higher volumes.

Likewise, revenues from the Port of Batangas were higher compared to last year’s due to higher volumes of containers, roll-on/roll-off figures, and passenger numbers.

Costs and expenses for the first three months of 2018 rose 12.4% to P1.160 billion from P1.032 billion in the same period last year due to higher labor, equipment, management, tax, and other costs.

ATI earlier said it will be spending P8 billion this year to further expand capacity and improve operations at its Manila and Batangas terminals.

ATI’s new executive vice president William Khoury, in a recent interview with PortCalls, said the budget will be used for ongoing and new projects.

For Manila South Harbor, ATI is developing an additional yard to increase the yard’s capacity by 20% to 1.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) by 2019 from its current annual capacity of 1.25 million TEUs. In 2017, Manila South Harbor handled over 1.1 million TEUs. The port operator is also reconditioning Pier 9 to enable it to handle container vessels.

For its Batangas operations, ATI is currently building 300 meters of quay at BCT, which Khoury said is “basically a second berth for the facility.”

ATI also expects two new quay cranes to arrive at BCT by September this year, to be complemented by four new rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes. With the new acquisitions, ATI will soon have four quay cranes and eight RTGs. Khoury said these equipment investments will almost double BCT’s annual capacity from 350,000 TEUs to over 600,000 TEUs.

By July, ATI will have also finished its five-story car park that can hold 5,000 vehicles, increasing the current capacity of 7,000 vehicles to 12,000 vehicles. The car storage facility is being built to respond to the growth in the volume of imported vehicles in the country, with Batangas port having handled nearly 200,000 completely built units in 2017.

ATI this year will also start the development of a passenger terminal in Batangas to increase the current seating capacity of 2,200 to 3,000 at a single time.

Also part of ATI’s upgrades this year is “starting a system of differential positioning,” or the setting up of a GPS system, by September for its yard at Manila South Harbor so as to enable specific locations of containers to be identified. ATI is also upgrading its terminal operating system using the trademark system of global port operator DP World, which owns stakes in ATI.

Aside from Manila and Batangas, ATI also operates in Makar Wharf, General Santos, and off-dock yards in Manila and Laguna.