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Cargo volume at Philippine ports grew 9.3% in 2021, breaching the 5% growth target set by the Philippine Ports Authority
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Container traffic rose 8.8%, higher than the 6-8% target hike
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Roll on-Roll off traffic jumped 35.4% while shipcalls advanced 15.6%
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Passenger traffic remain affected by COVID-induced travel restrictions, dropping 10.3%
Cargo volume at Philippine ports grew 9.3% in 2021, surpassing the 5% target for the year, according to preliminary data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
Ports under PPA jurisdiction handled 266.764 million metric tons (MT) in 2021, higher than the 243.99 million MT recorded in 2020.
PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago earlier forecast cargo volumes to grow by 5% to 246.7 million MT in 2021.
Accounting for 64% of the total 2021 throughput, foreign cargoes advanced 13% to 169.901 million MT from 150.395 million MT.
Import cargoes rose 10.2% to 99.36 million MT from 90.150 million MT, while export cargoes grew 17.1% to 70.542 million MT from 60.245 million MT.
Domestic cargoes improved 3.5% to 96.863 million MT last year from 93.594 million MT in the previous year.
Volume from Luzon accounted for 54% of the total, followed by Mindanao with 31% and Visayas with 15%.
Cargoes handled by Luzon ports improved 11.3% to 144.103 million MT from 129.441 million MT.
Visayas ports handled 10.15% more cargoes at 40.375 million MT from 36.653 million MT, while Mindanao ports recorded a 5.6% jump to 82.286 million MT from 77.895 million MT.
Container throughput
Container volume at PPA ports saw an 8.8% rise to 7.351 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2021 from 6.758 million TEUs in 2020. This was higher than the 6% to 8% target increase for 2021.
READ: PH container volume projected to grow up to 8% in 2021
Foreign containers, which represented 61% of the total container throughput, grew 12.1% to 4.502 million TEUs from 4.017 million TEUs. Import containers were up 13.5% to 2.277 million TEUs from 2.005 million TEUs, while export containers were 10.6% higher at 2.226 million TEUs from 2.012 million TEUs.
Domestic containers expanded 4% to 2.849 million TEUs in 2021 from 2.740 million TEUs in the year prior.
Luzon ports handled the most volumes at 5.387 million TEUs, an improvement of 11.5% from the 4.833 million TEUs recorded in 2020.
Mindanao ports likewise posted a 3.4% uptick to 1.496 million TEUs from 1.446 million TEUs.
Container volume at Visayas ports, on the other hand, slipped 2% to 468,634 TEUs from 478,578 TEUs.
Roll-on/roll-off traffic grew 35.4% to 6.876 million in 2021 from 5.078 million in 2020.
Shipcalls increased 15.6% to 372,199 vessels from 321,934 vessels.
Domestic shipcalls, which accounted for the bulk of the total, rose 16% to 360,439 vessels from 310,361 vessels. Foreign shipcalls likewise improved by 2% to 11,760 vessels from 11,573 vessels.
Passenger traffic, meanwhile, recorded a 10.3% decline to 22.332 million in 2021 from 24.886 million in 2020, still likely as a result of COVID-induced travel restrictions. The latest figure is a far cry from the PPA forecast of 1% to 2% improvement for 2021.
For 2022, PPA expects cargo volume to increase by 1% and for 2023, by 3%. Passenger traffic is seen growing to 26.10 million this year, and to 26.79 million in 2023. – Roumina Pablo
