MAJOR ports in the Philippines, especially Manila remain free of congestion as the peak season dawns despite rising volumes in the first seven months of the year, declares the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
The PPA said container volumes rose nine per cent to 4.31 million TEU from 3.95 million TEU in the previous corresponding period, with domestic boxes handled at the ports reaching 1.76 million TEU while international volumes hit 2.55 million TEU.
In terms of overall throughput however volumes were sluggish, with overall volumes rising just two per cent to 147.27 million tonnes from 144.41 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Foreign cargo volumes grew by 1.6 per cent to 87.64 million tonnes, while domestic cargo volume rose by 2.5 per cent to 59.63 million tonnes, reported Colchester's Seatrade International.
Acknowledging the slow volumes in the first period of the year, PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said volume will pick-up toward the latter part of the year.
'Notwithstanding the decrease in the volume of export cargo by 0.98 per cent, we were still able to post positive deviation in the overall cargo traffic,' he said.
'Nonetheless, we are still on target of hitting our forecast of a modest cargo volume hike for 2018 of high single-digit to low double-digit growth,' he said.
'The silver lining in this situation is that our ports, particularly the Manila Ports, remain clog-free and ready to accept the influx of holiday cargoes, which we expect to arrive in the next couple of weeks,' said Mr Santiago.
The PPA said container volumes rose nine per cent to 4.31 million TEU from 3.95 million TEU in the previous corresponding period, with domestic boxes handled at the ports reaching 1.76 million TEU while international volumes hit 2.55 million TEU.
In terms of overall throughput however volumes were sluggish, with overall volumes rising just two per cent to 147.27 million tonnes from 144.41 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Foreign cargo volumes grew by 1.6 per cent to 87.64 million tonnes, while domestic cargo volume rose by 2.5 per cent to 59.63 million tonnes, reported Colchester's Seatrade International.
Acknowledging the slow volumes in the first period of the year, PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said volume will pick-up toward the latter part of the year.
'Notwithstanding the decrease in the volume of export cargo by 0.98 per cent, we were still able to post positive deviation in the overall cargo traffic,' he said.
'Nonetheless, we are still on target of hitting our forecast of a modest cargo volume hike for 2018 of high single-digit to low double-digit growth,' he said.
'The silver lining in this situation is that our ports, particularly the Manila Ports, remain clog-free and ready to accept the influx of holiday cargoes, which we expect to arrive in the next couple of weeks,' said Mr Santiago.