International Container Terminal Services Inc. said on Monday it expects to increase its import capacity by double digits once the expansion of Manila International Container Terminal is completed before the end of the year.
The port operator, owned by billionaire Enrique Razon Jr., said MICT was set to finish the first stage expansion of Yard 7 before the year ends.
Upon completion, the Phase 1 development will increase the terminal’s existing import capacity by 18 percent. The entire area of Phase 1 will store 6,500 20-foot equivalent units.
The new yard is part of ICTSI’s $35-million expansion project for the MICT aimed at immediately addressing the growing volumes at the Port of Manila.
Complementary to the new yard is the development of an inland container depot in Laguna, about 21 hectares, where ICTSI has earmarked $30 million.
Earlier, ICTSI acquired new container handling equipment worth $50 million in preparation for the operational launch of its port in Columbia next year.
ICTSI said its unit Sociedad Puerto Industrial de Aguadulce S.A. recently received four per post Panamax quay cranes and five rubber tired gantries for Aguadulce Multi-User Container Terminal at the Port of Buenaventura.
In July 2007, ICTSI won the 30-year concession for the construction and operation of a container terminal and grains and coal-handling facility at the Port of Buenaventura.
ICTSI posted a net income of $100.4 million in the first half of the year, down one percent from last year’s $101.7 million.
Revenues amounted to $552.1 million in the first half of the year, up eight percent from $510.3 million on year.
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 3.90 million TEUs in the first six months this year, up 9 percent from 3.57 million TEUs in the same period in 2014.
ICTSI recently acquired six new rubber tired gantries, which may be deployed at either the MICT or ICTSI’s Subic operations, depending on demand.
The company also plans to expand the Subic Port in anticipation of increased port utilization by 2015.
Port utilization in Subic is expected to hit 21 percent by 2015, which will also improve the usage of ICTSI’s two-berth facility within the free port area administered by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
ICTSI in July joined four other groups that submitted pre-qualification documents for the P18.99-billion Davao Sasa Port modernization project, the government’s first seaport project under the public-private partnership scheme.
The Transportation Department said the submission and opening of bids would be held in the fourth quarter of this year. The award of the 30-year contract is expected in April next year.
The winning bidder will build a new apron and linear quay, expand the back-up area, container yards and warehouses and install ship-to-shore cranes and rubber-tyred gantry.
Once the first phases of the project are completed in 2018, the Sasa Port will be comparable to the country’s top ports in terms of speed and quality of service, cutting down cargo unloading from three days to three hours by using modern ship-to-shore cranes and port operating systems.