Cargo volume handled by Cebu ports declined 12.63% to 32.7 million tons in the first seven months of 2020 from 37.5 million tons year-on-year, according to Cebu Port Authority (CPA) general manager Leonilo Miole.
For the same period in review, container traffic dropped 18% to 472,000 containers from 577,000, Miole said in a recent virtual interview with the Philippine Information Agency-Region 7.
Rolling cargoes also recorded a 32% decrease to 396,000 units from 591,000.
On the whole, cargo volume followed the direction of the economy, Miole said. Global and domestic trade has slowed sharply due to travel restrictions and economic slowdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Philippine ports have remained operational even during lockdown periods and movement of cargoes has been mostly unhampered.
Miole noted that ship calls fell 45% to 48,000 from January to July 2020 from 90,000 in the same period in 2019.
Passenger traffic also contracted by 62% to 5 million passengers from 14 million passengers last year. – Roumina Pablo
