State-run Philippine Ports Authority on Wednesday reported a sharp decline in net income last month amid the Luzon-wide lockdown imposed by the government to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
PPA said net income fell 79 percent to P300.93 million in March from P1.40 billion a year ago, following the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon starting March 15.
PPA this brought net income in the first three months to P2.53 billion, down by 25 percent from P3.33 billion in the same period last year.
The agency said that in terms of regulatory income, only Manila North Harbour Port Inc. registered a positive deviation of 3.75 percent while the fees coming from International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Asian Terminals Inc. went down by 8 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
PPA general manager Jay Santiago said the low net income in March and subsequently the first quarter was due to the effects of the pandemic dating back when China imposed a lockdown on Jan. 23, 2020 and eventually the government’s imposition of the Luzon-quarantine from March 15 up to the present.
“As early as January, there has been a slowdown in the movement of cargo as China, being the location of several transshipment hubs and a number of large manufacturing firms, has imposed necessary restrictions to control the spread of the dreaded disease,” Santiago said.
“Other countries, including the Philippines followed suit, thus, justifying the negative effect of the same in almost all areas of our revenue sources,” Santiago said.
“Hopefully, with the relaxation of some restrictions on trade, we will be able to arrest the downward trend in the next couple of months particularly when the country is already able to lift its restrictions on some trade and commercial processes,” Santiago said.
Revenues in the three-month period decreased 17 percent to P3.753 billion from P4.509 billion a year ago. Revenues fell 59 percent in March to P726.64 million from P1.773 billion.
PPA said the hardest hit sources of income in March were lay-up fees, storage fees and share from the Terminal Appointment Booking System.
