PROSPECTS are bright for the country’s port industry on the back of projected increase in operations and cargo volume as well as on the proposed mega-harbor solutions in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao, according to a major port developer.
Businessman Reghis M. Romero II, owner and operator of Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. in Manila, said the elimination of barriers to investments and tariffs among member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the robust trade with China will spur domestic port activities as well.
“The tariff reduction on goods flowing between Asean and China could be expected to balloon to unprecedented levels in the wake of Southeast Asia’s economic integration,” Romero said in his speech during yesterday’s opening of the 9th Philippine Ports and Shipping 2017, a biennial ports, shipping, and transport logistics business-to-business exhibition and conference.
“The increase in port operations and cargo volume will come, not only from the rise in trade volume between Asean and China, but also within the Asean itself and the other regions and sub-regions of the world,” he added, noting that Asean-China trade with the rest of the world has reached $4.3 trillion, accounting for about 13.3 percent of global trade.
Romero recalled that in 2012, incoming vessels measured around 100 meters only and at anyone time, the Harbour Centre Port Terminal can accommodate four to five vessels simultaneously with a stay time to unload of just three days.
But in 2015, he said incoming vessels were now measuring 180 to 220 meters, with an average stay time of 18 days to unload.
As a long-term solution, Romero cited the 50-hectare Harbour Centre expansion project sealed between Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and Philippine Reclamation Authority. The project, estimated to cost almost P7.4 billion, will add another 20 hectares with a kilometer-long berthing facility to Harbour Centre Port Terminal to enable it to accommodate the fast increasing volume and size of vessels and cargos at the port.
The Mega Harbour Port and Development Inc. has embarked on port city reclamation and development projects in central and southern Philippines in respond to the growing demand.
The Davao project, with its proximity to East Asia countries, will be a corridor for trade and commerce between the Philippines and the rest of the Asean Economic Community, he said.
On the other hand, the Cebu International Container and Bulk Terminal is an 85-hectare reclamation project consisting of a 1,200-meter-long berth, 1,000-meter access road, 25-hectare container yard, and a 50-hectare industrial park.
The project will help mitigate the container traffic in Cebu City, whose port can no longer be expanded because of geographic limitations.
“The three-port reclamation and modernization projects in Manila, Cebu and Davao will form the backbone of the national port network that we intend to build across the archipelago. This vision is consistent with President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy agenda on increasing the country’s global competitiveness and ease of doing business, and on accelerating annual infrastructure spending with public-private partnerships playing a key role,” Romero said.
“The Philippine port industry is ripe for this challenge. There is no time to waste. We belong to a business that serves as a catalyst for progress,” he added.
At the same time, Romero noted that positive economic developments will also bring about a multiplier effect on the port industry, which is essentially at the front end and back end of global trade and commerce.
He cited the rise in remittances from overseas Filipino workers as well as the expansion of the business process outsourcing industry that would spur construction of homes and office spaces, thus increasing port activities.
“Higher remittances from OFW’s raise the demand for construction materials that pass through our ports such as clinker, gypsum, steel and coal, among others. The same phenomenon holds true for the BPO industry, resulting in an ever-growing demand for new BPO office buildings and residential condominium units,” he said.
“Add those factors to the consumer trends in Asia and the sunrise industries in the Asean Economic Community, and we will all see our ports practically bulging at the seams,” Romero added.
He pointed out that it is imperative for the industry to be ready, otherwise port stakeholders will “reap national and international blame for becoming the bottleneck of economic development.”