PPA sees cargo volume growth sustained this year

THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said it expects sustained cargo volume growth this year of about 7%.

“Based on our projection by the end of the year, we are expecting our growth to remain at 7% for cargo throughput,” PPA General-Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said in a Viber message on Thursday.

According to preliminary data from the PPA, cargo throughput climbed to 218.28 million metric tons (MT), up 7.3% from a year earlier, driven by growth in foreign cargo.

Foreign cargo accounted for 140.21 million MT or a 64.2% share of all cargo volume; while domestic cargo accounted for 35.8% or 78.07 million MT.

In the third quarter, cargo volume rose 8.5% to 79.67 million MT.

In the nine months to September, the PPA logged imports of 80.38 million MT, with Luzon ports taking on 43.15 million MT. Exports amounted to 59.83 million MT led by Northern Mindanao ports, which shipped 28.90 million MT.

In the first nine months, the PPA said it serviced 5.72 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo, up 3.5% from a year earlier.

The PPA said domestic containers amounted to 1.97 million TEUs, with foreign containers at 3.74 million TEUs in the nine months.

Passenger volume rose 10.3% to 60.47 million. — Ashley Erika O. Jose