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Domestic cargo saw a 0.6% improvement to 98.910 million metric tons while foreign cargo climbed 7.6% to 173.058 million MT
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Exports saw double-digit growth of 13.4% while imports grew3.9%
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Container traffic dropped 5.1% to 7.499 million TEUs as domestic and import containers decreased
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Shipcalls surged 18.1% to 562,562 vessels in 2023
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Passenger traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels growing 24.4% to 73.613 million
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Ro-Ro traffic rose 6.4% to 10.697 million
Cargo volume handled by Philippine ports grew 5% in 2023 as both domestic and foreign shipments recorded increases during the period, preliminary data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed.
Cargo serviced by ports under PPA’s jurisdiction reached 271.968 million metric tons (MT) last year, higher than the 259.135 million MT posted in 2022.
Domestic cargo, which accounted for 36.4% of the total, saw a slight 0.6% improvement to 98.910 million MT in 2023 from 98.322 million MT in 2022.
Foreign cargo climbed 7.6% to 173.058 million MT from 160.813 million MT.
Exports saw a double-digit growth of 13.4% to 71.411 million MT from 62.996 million MT while imports grew 3.9% to 101.647 million MT from 97.817 million MT in 2022.
Container traffic down 5.1%
Container traffic, on the other hand, dropped 5.1% to 7.499 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2023 from 7.904 million TEUs in 2022 as domestic and import containers decreased.
Domestic containers last year declined 15.2% to 2.559 million TEUs from the 3.017 million TEUs reported in 2022.
In contrast, foreign boxes climbed 1.1% to 4.940 million TEUs from 4.888 million TEUs in 2022.
This could be attributed to the 2.5% increase in export containers to 2.479 million TEUs from 2.419 million TEUs. Imports, meanwhile, dropped 0.3% to 2.461 million TEUs from 2.469 million TEUs.
Shipcalls surged 18.1% to 562,562 vessels in 2023 from 476,156 vessels in 2022 as domestic shipcalls improved 18.7% to 551,422 vessels from 464,729 vessels.
Foreign shipcalls, on the other hand, dropped 2.5% to 11,140 vessels last year from 11,427 vessels in 2022.
Passenger traffic continued to improve for the second year in a row in 2023, recording a 24.4% increase to 73.613 million from 59.193 million in 2022. The 2023 figure is also already within pre-pandemic levels.
PPA ports also handled 87,217 cruise passengers as cruise ships returned calls to various ports in 2023.
Roll-on/roll-off traffic also rose 6.4% to 10.697 million in 2023 from 10.052 million in 2022. – Roumina Pablo
