The five port district offices (PDOs) under the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) — Manila and North Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Southern Mindanao —project volume growth ranging from 1% to 11% for 2012.
The Visayas and Northern Mindanao districts are expected to book the highest growth and Manila and Northern Luzon districts, the lowest.
PDO Northern Mindanao, which encompasses the ports of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Nasipit, Ozamiz and Surigao, is eyeing an 11.3% uptick in volume — the highest among the five PDOs — from this year’s 27.672 mmt of cargo.
The port of Surigao will contribute much of PDO Northern Mindanao’s volume with 19.422 million metric tons (mmt) followed by Cagayan de Oro with 5.276 mmt, Nasipit (2.833 mmt), Iligan (2.259), and Ozamiz, 1.010 mmt.
The PDO with the least growth expectation of 0.9% for next year is Manila and North Luzon which includes the country’s biggest ports South Harbor, North Harbor and the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) as well as San Fernando and Limay. Volume for this PDO is expected to drop to 68.325 mmt next year from this year’s 67.709 mmt.
MICT, the country’s largest port, is seen handling 20.681 mmt next year, slightly higher than this year’s goal of 19.457 mmt; South Harbor, 10.791 mmt from this year’s 11.052 mmt; and North Harbor, the country’s main domestic port, 15.499 mmt from 15.883.
Volume through the oil port of Limay is also expected to slow to 15.866 mmt from 16.214 mmt this year, and San Fernando to 5.487 mmt from 5.101 mmt.
For PDO Visayas, an 8.7% volume rise to 27.143 mmt is estimated for 2012 from this year’s 24.948 mmt. Leading the pack is the port of Iloilo, whose volume is seen reaching 9.344 mmt followed by Pulupandan with 6.681 mmt, Ormoc (4.541 mmt), Tagbilaran (2.368 mmt), Dumaguete (2.221 mmt), and Tacloban, 1.987 mmt.
A 5.6% volume increase from 17.344 mmt to 18.329 mmt is expected from ports covered under PDO Southern Mindanao, led by Davao with volume targeted to reach 12.078 mmt followed by General Santos, 2.774 mmt; Zamboanga, 2.704 mmt; Dapitan, 718,020 mt; and Cotabato, 53,997 mt.
Southern Luzon ports are projecting volume growth of 2% from 30.141 mmt this year to 30.802 mmt next year. Of the 2012 total for this PDO, the port of Batangas could account for 18.853 mmt; Puerto Princesa, 5.765 mmt; Legazpi, 4.383 mmt; and Calapan, 1.799 mmt.
For the first ten months of the year, Philippine cargo volume rose 5.7% to 146.70 mmt from 138.19 million year-on-year. Growth was recorded mainly in the ports of Surigao, Batangas and Manila International Container Terminal.
For January to October, domestic cargo reached 60.37 mmt, up 5% from 57.62 mmt last year, and foreign cargo, 86.33 mmt, up 7% from 80.57 mmt last year.
