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Friday, March 29, 2024

Cargo volume growth slower

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Philippine cargo volume grew at a slower pace in the first quarter due to the significant drop in the export volume.

Latest data from the Philippine Ports Authority showed cargo volume in the first quarter totaled 54.298 million metric tons, up 4.15 percent from 52.133 mmt handled in the same period last year.

Domestic cargo volume also posted positive figures of 23.825 mmt, up 4.91 percent than the 22.710 mmt registered in 2016.

Foreign cargo volume posted a 3.57-percent increase from 29.422 mmt in 2016 to 30.473 mmt this year.

“The healthy economic performance explains the sustained robust operations of Philippine ports at large,” PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said in a statement.

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“While we posted volume growth for the period, the growth pace, however, is slower. 

Last year, we registered some 8 percent growth in volume compared to the 4 percent for the same period this year,” Santiago added.

He attributed the slower pace to the overall decline in export cargo volume, which dropped 8 percent in the first quarter from a year ago.

First-quarter export volume stood at 9.04 mmt compared with 9.78 mmt handled in the same period last year.

Container volume, meanwhile, totaled 1.521 million twenty-foot equivalent units, up 4.08 from 1.461 million TEUs handled on year.

Domestic boxes posted a 7.71-percent increase to 638,435 TEUs, while foreign boxes registered a measly 1.61 percent hike after growth was pulled by the drop in export boxes of 5 percent to 408,018 TEUs from 427,562 TEUs. 

Ports that posted growth in TEU-volume include NCR North, Davao, Batangas, South Harbor and the Manila International Container Terminal.

Passenger traffic maintained its upward trend with a 0.89-percent increase to 15.893 million against the 2016 figure of 15.753 million. 

The nominal growth was due to the change in the period of the Holy Week holidays, while the reliance by the sea-traveling public on Ro-Ro vessels, fastcraft and motorized bancas as primary mode of transportation for domestic inter-island connectivity remained as the primary reason in passenger traffic.

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