ICTSI’s Laguna ICT expands facilities

0
1157
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) dry port unit, Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal (LGICT), recently broke ground to start expansion of new facilities. Photo shows the groundbreaking and time capsule-lowering ceremonies signaling the start of Phase 1 civil works at the LGICT site in Calamba City, Laguna. From left: Socorro Z. Niro, TDG Chief Finance Officer; Rashid Alexander H. Delgado, Transnational Diversified Corp. President; Atty. Lirene Mora-Suarez, ICTSI Corporate Legal Services Officer; Christian R. Gonzalez, ICTSI Vice President and Head of the Asia Pacific region; Dan C. Florentino, TDG Chief Operating Officer; Carmela N. Rodriguez, LGICT General Manager; and Shuji Harada, NCT Philippines President.
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) dry port unit, Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal (LGICT), recently broke ground to start expansion of new facilities. Photo shows the groundbreaking and time capsule-lowering ceremonies signaling the start of Phase 1 civil works at the LGICT site in Calamba City, Laguna. From left: Socorro Z. Niro, TDG Chief Finance Officer; Rashid Alexander H. Delgado, Transnational Diversified Corp. President; Atty. Lirene Mora-Suarez, ICTSI Corporate Legal Services Officer; Christian R. Gonzalez, ICTSI Vice President and Head of the Asia Pacific region; Dan C. Florentino, TDG Chief Operating Officer; Carmela N. Rodriguez, LGICT General Manager; and Shuji Harada, NCT Philippines President.
Photo shows the groundbreaking and time capsule-lowering ceremonies signaling the start of Phase 1 civil works at the Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal site in Calamba City, Laguna. From left: Socorro Z. Niro, TDG Chief Finance Officer; Rashid Alexander H. Delgado, Transnational Diversified Corp. President; Atty. Lirene Mora-Suarez, ICTSI Corporate Legal Services Officer; Christian R. Gonzalez, ICTSI Vice President and Head of the Asia Pacific region; Dan C. Florentino, TDG Chief Operating Officer; Carmela N. Rodriguez, LGICT General Manager; and Shuji Harada, NCT Philippines President.

The first phase of the Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal (LGICT), the dry port of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) in Laguna, is being eyed for completion by year-end.

ICTSI said in a statement that Phase 1, which involves civil works and has an estimated cost of P587 million, will add a fully developed area of 7.22 hectares of improvements including concrete pavement, a rubber-tired gantry (RTG) runway, dedicated stacking areas for loaded and empty containers, a container cleaning and repair area, access road, weigh bridges, a guardhouse, and entry and exit barriers.

Initially, the Laguna dry port has four hectares of operational container yard and uses reach stackers in hauling containers.

On full development, it will have an area of 21 hectares with facilities for reefer containers, truck holding areas, a fuel station, a rail workshop, and container freight stations. For its equipment fleet, on order are RTGs, side lifters, prime mover trucks, and additional reach stackers.

ICTSI, together with venture partners Transnational Diversified Group and Nippon Container Terminals Co. Ltd., recently commenced groundbreaking and time capsule-lowering ceremonies for the dry port.

During the ceremony. Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI vice president and head of Asia Pacific region, disclosed plans to revive in the near future an existing railroad connection that will directly link LGICT and ICTSI’s flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).

“It is a great aspiration that we have, not only to see this develop as an inland container terminal in today’s form, but also as an inland container terminal connected by rail to the country’s premier port in its future form,” Gonzalez said.

ICTSI was the first logistics company to introduce intermodal freight transport in the Philippines when it offered container transport service by rail from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. ICTSI divested from the business in 2003 due to a slowdown in the container market in Southern Luzon. The company said the improving Philippine economy in recent years boosted container traffic, prompting the port operator to reopen the Laguna dry port in March to support the growing volume.

“Once everybody starts using LGICT, we can expect even better productivity levels at MICT. Most importantly, the whole economy will benefit from this project,” Gonzalez noted.

The dry port’s current annual capacity of 250,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) effectively increases MICT’s capacity by 10%.  ICTSI said LGICT will help lower MICT’s import inventory, average import dwell time and laden yard utilization by offering storage services to clients in Southern Luzon.

As a regional logistics hub, LGICT will provide logistical support to manufacturers, importers, and exporters in economic zones within the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) area by reducing truck turnaround time and accelerating trade, according to the port operator. It added that the facility offers both short-term and long-term storage options as well as transport service to and from MICT.

Aside from its own transport service, LGICT has also contracted certified truck companies to provide alternative trucking services. This initiative, as well as the completion of the rail linkage between MICT and LGICT, will result in seamless cargo transfer to the economic zones within Metro Manila and Southern Luzon, the company said.