Subic port’s 2014 volume to jump 84% to 70,000 TEUs

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Subic Bay
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia during his presentation at the Northern Luzon Shipping Summit in Fontana Clark, Pampanga.

Subic port will almost double its 2014 volume to 70,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) from 38,000 TEUs in 2013, according to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia during a presentation at the Northern Luzon Shipping Summit on September 29 in Fontana Clark, Pampanga.

While the expected growth may be considered impressive, he said, the forecast volume is only 11.7% of the 600,000 twenty-equivalent unit (TEU) annual capacity of Subic port’s New Container Terminals 1 and 2 so there is room for so much more cargoes.

Garcia said out of the 3 million containers handled yearly by Manila ports, 15% or 450,000 TEUs “originate from or are shipped to Central and Northern Luzon.”

He pointed out, “It therefore does not make any sense at all on why these 450,000 (TEUs) should clog up the streets of Metro Manila when Subic port is already willing and able to accept that volume.”

Container traffic for the first eight months of 2014 at Subic’s New Container Terminal (NCT) 1 surged 54.58% to 34,746.25 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) from the 22,437.75 TEUs in the same period last year.

For the month of August alone, NCT 1 posted the highest monthly traffic in 2014 of 8,770.25 TEUs, a 243.7% hike from 2,551.75 TEUs recorded in August 2013.

To further lure businesses into using the Northern Luzon gateway, Garcia said SBMA simplified its accreditation process for port users to just one day, giving applicants a provisional authority to operate within the free port pending complete processing of their application.

Meantime, Garcia said SBMA has donated land beside the container terminal to the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which will become a one-stop shop for port users processing documents.

Subic Bay International Terminal Corp (SBITC), operator of NCT 1 and 2, will fund construction of the one-stop shop.

A memorandum of agreement between BOC and SBMA is now in the final stages of review.

Moreover, Garcia noted the construction of a three-hectare container yard in Subic’s neighbor, the Clark Freeport Zone, as a “big benefit for Clark locators”, allowing them to readily pull out empty containers to use for export.

To attract more shipping lines, SBMA recently announced a reduction in port and berthing fees by more than 80% for a period of six months starting October 1.

Garcia said there are “serious negotiations with other shipping lines” that will soon make regular calls to Subic.

In a separate presentation during the Summit, outgoing SBITC general manager Reimond Silvestre said carrier SITC plans to connect Subic to its China hub while another carrier plans to connect Subic to Singapore. – Text and photo by Roumina Pablo