Asian Terminals Inc. said Thursday it is seeing signs of trade improvement heading into mid-March after a sluggish February performance triggered by a regional holiday and the coronavirus disease 2019 disruption.
“Manila South Harbor has experienced signs of improvement compared to the latter part of February with vessel calls, especially those from Chinese ports, starting to pick up. Inbound and outbound container flows have likewise sped up pace, with more container inventories recorded at the terminal,” ATI said.
The company said the same positive improvement trend was observed in Batangas port.
ATI said that ports in China also resumed operations, consistent with the pattern observed in the company, coming off a sluggish start after the Chinese New Year, traditionally a lean season for global trade.
“ATI hopes that the cargo uptrend continues. It also underscored that both its international gateway terminals in Manila and Batangas are business as usual, with contingency measures in place to ensure unimpeded cargo flow and the safety of its stakeholders,” the port operator said.
The port operator owned by businessman Eusebio Tanco earlier posted a net income of P3.7 billion in 2019, up 28.9 percent from P2.9 billion in 2018.
Revenues increased by 8.6 percent last year to P13.3 billion from P12.3 billion in 2018, driven by higher international containerized cargoes handled by gateway ports in Manila and Batangas.
Double-digit cargo growth was recorded by Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal which handled a consolidated container volume of 1.61 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units)– the highest thus far for the listed port operator.
International boxed cargoes in Manila South Harbor reached 1.3 million TEUs, or over 10 percent higher than 2018 figures. Manila South Harbor handled over 100,000 TEUs for nine out of the 12-month period, setting new operations milestone, capped by nearly 124,000 TEUs in March.
Batangas Container Terminal, meanwhile, sustained its strong volume growth as it officially broke through the 300,000-TEU mark in 2019, finishing the year with over 311,000 TEUs for a volume increase of over 25 percent compared to 2018.