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Port operator Asian Terminals Inc. reported a 2% decline in net income for the first semester of 2021
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The drop was due to volume-driven expenses, additional Covid-19 resiliency measures, and unfavorable foreign exchange
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Revenues were 8.2% higher as Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal handled 17% more containers
Port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) reported a net income of P1.13 billion in the first semester of 2021, down 2% year-on-year due to volume-driven expenses, additional Covid-19 resiliency measures, and unfavorable foreign exchange.
Revenues for the first half of the year, on the hand, amounted to P5.47 billion, 8.2% higher than the P5.05 billion posted during the same period last year.
From January to June 2021, Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal (BCT) handled over 660,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of international containers, representing a consolidated volume growth of 17% compared to volume in the first half of 2020.
“We are pleased to achieve robust results for the period even amid the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 global pandemic, reflecting the strength and resilience of our company as a trade enabler built across 35 years of pioneering experience in the industry,” ATI executive vice president William Khoury said in a statement.
“We intend to sustain this momentum headed into the second half of the year by continuously working safely and efficiently in collaboration with our customers, dockworkers, port authorities and other stakeholders, following the stringent health and safety protocols prescribed by international and local Covid-19 experts,” Khoury added.
ATI earlier said Manila South Harbor and BCT remained business as usual 24/7, despite the heightened community quarantine status imposed by government to curb the recent spike in COVID-19 infections, in order to keep vital goods flowing and the supplychain moving.
Khoury also earlier said they expected volumes this year to be better than last year’s, but “the company does not expect volumes to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 or 2023.”
To sustain operations, ATI is spending around P6 billion in capital investment this year to bankroll ongoing port expansion and modernization projects at Manila and Batangas ports and to explore new growth opportunities.
READ: ATI earmarks P6.9B for equipment, facility upgrades this year
These expenditures include the current upgrade of the Batangas Passenger Terminal and the ongoing yard expansion and extension of berth facilities at Pier 3 of Manila South Harbor.
Early this year, ATI took delivery of five brand-new rubber-tired gantry cranes, increasing Manila South Harbor’s fleet by 22% to 28 units.
