MCC Transport, the intra-Asia arm of Danish giant Maersk Line, has added more calls to Batangas Container Terminal (BCT), providing additional connectivity for Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) shippers.
In June, BCT saw increased ship calls with the launch of MCC Transport’s enhanced Philippine Feeder 4 (PH4) for its second weekly service via Batangas.
Other major international carriers are expected to follow suit, according to a press statement by Asian Terminals Inc, operator of the BCT.
NYK, for one, made its first direct call to Batangas from Japan on July 8.
Philippine Economic Zone deputy director general Tereso Panga earlier told PortCalls APL, MOL and Evergreen are also interested in calling the port.
MCC started its PH4 service in BCT on June 1, encouraged by strong market reception for its Intra-Asia 7 (IA7) service. IA7 has directly shipped containers to and from BCT since 2012.
The PH4 service covers Yantian – Hong Kong – Batangas – Manila (North) – General Santos – Cagayan de Oro – Shanghai – Ningbo – Busan – Vladivostok (Fish Port) – Vladivostok (Dalzavod) – Busan – Osaka – Hakata – Yantian and provides faster transit time between northeast Asian ports and Batangas.
Through PH4, Calabarzon-based companies can ship directly from Hong Kong, Yantian, Hakata and Osaka into Batangas at significantly faster transit times of two, three, seven and nine days, respectively compared to the former transit of 15, 16, 19 and 22 days.
PH4 also cuts transit time by more than half for Batangas imports originating from Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Tokyo, Qingdao, Xingang, Shanghai, Huangpu and Shekou via Hong Kong transshipment.
Meanwhile, to better serve customers MCC further enhanced its IA7 service, replacing this with Intra-Asia 4 (IA4) which offers higher-capacity vessels with wider service coverage.
MCC’s IA4 offers direct export connectivity to Hong Kong, Yantian, Kaohsiung, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan and Kwangyang as well as export transshipment products to major Japan ports via Hong Kong. It also facilitates direct and faster imports to Batangas from Singapore (4 days), Tanjung Pelepas (5 days), Jakarta (9 days) and Surabaya (11 days).
IA4 calls BCT on Saturdays, while PH4 on Sundays.
Maersk Line, MCC Transport’s mother company, would also benefit from these two services. The two services calling Batangas offers opportunities from Europe and the Middle East via IA4, and imports from the US via PH4 where transit times would improve into Batangas (Long Beach in 23 days, Oakland in 33 days and Seattle in 27 days).
Aside from the improved global connections on PH4 and IA4, MCC and Maersk Line’s Batangas shippers also get the added benefit of reusing their import containers for their export needs. Moreover, MCC and Maersk Line offer two depot options in the Calabarzon area – both with a robust supply of ISO-compliant equipment.
