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PH ports post 2% cargo volume growth in Q1
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Ports under Philippine Ports Authority jurisdiction handled 57.825 million metric tons
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Domestic cargo increased 5.5% while foreign cargo slipped 0.6%
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Container traffic was 4.7% higher at 1.862 million TEUs
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Passenger and Ro-Ro traffic jumped 79% and 41.5%, respectively
Cargo throughput handled by Philippine ports grew 2% to 57.825 million metric tons in the first quarter of 2022 from 56.729 million MT in the same quarter last year, preliminary data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed.
The data only covers ports under PPA jurisdiction.
Foreign cargoes, which represented 57% of the total volume, declined 0.6% to 32.736 million MT from 32.947 million MT.
Domestic cargoes, on the other hand, grew 5.5% to 25.09 million MT from 23.782 million MT in the same quarter last year.
Of the total foreign cargoes, imports accounted for 21.819 million MT, 1.6% higher than the 21.465 million MT handled last year.
Exports also declined 4.9% to 10.917 million MT from 11.482 million MT.
Among the country’s major regional groupings, Luzon accounted for 60% of the total cargo volume, followed by Mindanao (21.5%), and Visayas (18.5%).
Luzon ports handled 34.728 million MT in the first quarter, up 0.9% from the 34.406 million MT year-on-year.
Visayas ports recorded the most growth regionally at 13% to 10.692 million MT, from 9.47 million MT a year ago.
Mindanao ports saw a 3.5% decline in cargo volume with 12.406 million MT vis-à-vis 12.853 million MT.
Container throughput
Container volume for the first quarter reported a 4.7% rise to 1.862 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 1.779 million TEUs year-on-year.
The volume of domestic containers inched up 0.4% to 727,861 TEUs from 725,100 TEUs, while foreign containers handled advanced 8% to 1.135 million TEUs from 1.054 million TEUs.
The improvement in foreign container throughput was due to an 8% rise in import containers to 556,569 TEUs from 514,969 TEUs, and 7.2% growth in export containers to 577,933 TEUs from 539,178 TEUs.
Luzon ports accounted for the largest share of total container throughput handled (75%) or 1.398 million TEUs, up 7.5% from 1.3 million TEUs in the first quarter of 2021.
Container traffic passing through Mindanao ports rose 1.3% to 362,045 TEUs from 357,500 TEUs.
Visayas ports posted a substantial 16% drop to 102,386 TEUs, from 121,369 TEUs a year ago.
Roll-on/roll-off traffic increased 41.5% to 2.289 million from 1.618 million.
With travel restrictions from the pandemic easing, shipcalls in the first quarter of the year increased 15% to 99,044 vessels from 86,419 in the same period last year.
Of the total shipcalls, domestic ships dominated with 97%, accounting for 96,409 vessels, up 15% from 83,742 a year ago.
Foreign shipcalls surged 125% to 2,635 vessels from 1,170 vessels.
Passenger traffic improved 79% to 9.368 million from 5.219 million in the first quarter of 2021.
PPA in 2021 surpassed its targets, with cargo and container volume growing 9.3% and 8.8%, respectively. It had earlier projected a 1% rise in 2022 and 3% in 2023. – Roumina Pablo
