With little congestion relief in sight at Manila ports, more and more shipping lines are scheduling calls at Batangas Port, about two hours from the Philippine capital.
On July 28 SITC Container Lines called Batangas Container Terminal (BCT) and will offer Monday calls thereafter, according to the Philippine Ports Authority.
Two days later, an APL vessel berthed at the port. The last time the carrier docked at BCT was around 2002, an APL official noted. Wednesday calls are now in the offing.
This July, ACX Diamond and ACX Pearl operated by Japanese carrier NYK Line discharged containers from Japan at Batangas.
Starting August 1, the same call will be regularly introduced, the only service in the Philippines to offer direct connections from Japan to Southeast Asian countries of Singapore and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, PortCalls sources said TMS Ship Agencies, Inc will start calling Batangas on August 2, as confirmed by an official of Asian Terminals Inc (ATI), operator of the BCT.
Thailand-based Regional Container Lines will also offer weekly services (every Friday) starting August 15.
CMA CGM booked calls at the port every Monday although no definite maiden voyage date has been set.
In June, MCC Transport, the intra-Asia arm of Danish shipping giant Maersk, doubled its port calls at Batangas.
MCC’s revised PH-4 service has a 35-day rotation, covering the ports of Yantian – Hong Kong – Batangas – Manila – General Santos – Cagayan de Oro – Shanghai – Ningbo – Busan – Vladivistok (Fish Port) – Vladivostok (Dalzavod) – Busan – Osaka – Hakata – Yantian.
Philippine Economic Zone Authority deputy director general Tereso Panga earlier told PortCalls that MOL and Evergreen are also looking at utilizing the Southern Luzon port.
PPA said the Office of the President will soon issue an order offering a 90% discount on port charges to foreign vessels calling Batangas at least in the next six months.
Also in June, domestic carrier 2Go began its weekly call on the Batangas-Cebu-Cagayan De Oro then Bacolod to Batangas route, carrying cargoes mostly from Calamba, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon).
Another domestic carrier, NMC Container Lines, earlier told PortCalls it is planning to return to Batangas servicing its old trade from two years ago.
For the second quarter of 2014, volume at BCT surged 254%, with the first semester volume already surpassing the 11,019.5 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled for the full year of 2013. BCT’s annual capacity is 350,000 TEUs.
ATI said there are now eight vessels servicing the terminal connecting Calabarzon shippers to key regional and global markets. – Text and photo by Roumina Pablo
