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Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority sees imports at the Subic freeport zone growing 5.2% and exports by 4.1% in 2022
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This follows record 2021 figures, when SBMA beat its pre-pandemic performance
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The agency expects imports to improve to $1.77 billion and exports to $1.42 billion
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The SBMA is pilot-testing automation projects to further improve ease of doing business at the freeport
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is forecasting a 5.2% growth in imports and a 4.1% increase in exports at the Subic freeport zone this year following a record 2021, when the zone exceeded its pre-pandemic performance.
Imports are seen rising year-on-year to $1.77 billion from $1.68 billion and exports to $1.42 billion from $1.37 billion, according to SBMA Trade Facilitation & Compliance Department (TFCD) officer-in-charge Anna Joy Quito at the recent SBMA 2022 Seaports Forecast webinar.
It must be noted that the forecasts were made before the Russia-Ukraine war and based on a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific report on trade in goods in Asia and the Pacific for 2021-2022 published in November 2021, noted Quito.
The forecasts also follow SBMA’s import and export figures in 2021, which already surpassed their 2019 pre-pandemic records by 8.12%and 6.73%.
Quito said SBMA hopes the manufacturing sector in Subic Bay freeport will be able to sustain the gains made in 2021.
To further improve ease of doing business at the freeport, Quito said the TFCD is continuously updating its Citizen’s Charter. TFCD forms and references can now be accessed and downloaded from SBMA’s website.
A semestral stakeholders’ forum will also be held to update freeport locators, importers and exporters on the latest projects of TFCD.
Three automation projects are being pilot-tested, Quito said. These include the electronic liquidation report system, electronic admission permit system, and enhanced automated export documentation system (AEDS v4). The first two have 31 participants each while the AEDS v4, which aims to speed up export processing via a single platform linked to Bureau of Customs, has six participants.
SBMA is also continuously enhancing its Electronic Transit Admission Permit System, an in-transit online lodgment for goods discharged at other ports such as Manila, Clark and Batangas.
Various seaport and airport projects are ongoing or in the pipeline.
READ: SBMA sees 3% port revenue growth, 5% container volume hike in 2022
SBMA senior deputy administrator for operations Ronnie Yambao, meanwhile, emphasized during the same webinar that Subic Bay Freeport is a multimodal logistics hub that can accommodate all types of commodities.
He noted it is the only area in the country, and maybe even within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, that has a container terminal, 15 piers and wharves, an airport, and a big shipyard that will soon be managed by a new operator.
Once the Subic-Clark Railway is constructed and becomes operational, he said Subic Bay Freeport will be accessible via land, sea, air, and rail. (The project is still in its initial stages). – Roumina Pablo
