Major port operators rolled out the first tranche of fee hikes at Manila and Batangas ports starting Jan. 1.
The state-run Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in November 2025 approved a 20 percent increase in cargo handling tariffs at the Manila North Harbor to be implemented in two tranches. The initial 10 percent increase took effect Jan. 1, with the remaining 10 percent scheduled for July 1.
The PPA also approved a 20 percent increase in passenger terminal fees, 10 new tariff items, and hikes for porterage rates, parking fees and storage charges.
In Batangas, the PPA approved a P60 hike for passenger terminal fees on Nov. 27. The increase is split into two tranches: P30 effective Jan. 1 and the final P30 on July 1. Similarly, the Batangas cargo handling tariff increase took effect Jan. 1, with the second phase following on July 1.
The PPA recently reported that container traffic reached 7,138,980 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) as of October 2025, with total cargo throughput hitting 262.84 million metric tons (MT).
Passenger traffic from January to October 2025 reached 69,125,788, a 5.25% increase over the 65.68 million passengers recorded during the same period in 2024. The top five ports by passenger volume for 2025 were Iloilo, Batangas, Jordan, Calapan and Babak.
Cruise tourism also showed continued growth, recording 157,147 passengers from 74 ship calls through October.
By year-end, the PPA projects cargo throughput to hit at least 301.47 million MT, container volume to reach 8 million TEUs and passenger traffic to peak at 85.41 million.
