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The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority pitched the Casiguran port development at an international forum in Malaysia, urging southeast Asian port developers and logistics operators to view the underused Pacific coastline as the next maritime frontier
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Pacific-facing ports such as Casiguran in the western-central part of the Philippine will serve as redundancy nodes amid rising geopolitical uncertainty and congestion at existing maritime gateways
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APECO president and CEO undersecretary Gil Taway IV positioned Casiguran port not as a competitor to existing hubs but as a complementary option offering route flexibility and Pacific market access
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APECO also highlighted the arctic route as a potential future Asia-Europe trade corridor that could further elevate Pacific-facing ports’ strategic value
The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) pitched the Casiguran port development at an international forum in Malaysia, urging southeast Asian port developers and logistics operators to view the underused Pacific coastline as the next maritime frontier
Speaking at the 24th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Ports & Logistics conference at Sofitel Damansara in Kuala Lumpur, APECO president and CEO undersecretary Gil Taway IV said the region’s over-reliance on a narrow cluster of established western gateways has left ASEAN trade exposed to disruptions whenever congestion or geopolitical tensions flare along the Strait of Malacca or the South China Sea.
“Global trade finds itself navigating one of the most complex geopolitical environments in recent history,” Taway said. “We already learned the hard lesson: when trade becomes too dependent on a few congested routes and a few established gateways, any disruption can quickly become a delay, a cost, or a lost opportunity.”
Taway backed his case with ASEAN export data showing that seven of the bloc’s ten largest trading partners, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Mexico, are economies directly accessible through the Pacific. The US alone accounted for 16% of ASEAN’s total exports in 2024, followed by China at 15%, Japan at 8.5%, Hong Kong at 6.2%, and South Korea at 5.7%.
“Despite seven out of the 10 top export markets of ASEAN being accessible through the Pacific, ASEAN’s maritime infrastructure has naturally developed along its western maritime gateways such as ports along the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea as the primary gateways for international commerce,” Taway said.
Major Asian ports serving Pacific routes recorded throughput growth ranging from 11% to 59% between 2019 and 2025, according to figures Taway cited. Shanghai handled 55 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2025, Singapore processed 45 million TEUs, Ningbo-Zhoushan managed 44 million TEUs, Busan handled 25 million TEUs, and Port Klang recorded 15 million TEUs, volumes that industry analyst Alphaliner ranks among the world’s 30 busiest ports and that individually surpass Europe’s largest hubs at Rotterdam and Antwerp.
In this context, Taway introduced a new opportunity to ASEAN’s port and logistics sector: the Casiguran International New Port in Aurora Province. APECO promotes it as a Pacific-facing hub for transshipment, logistics, consolidation, cold chain activities, value-added processing, and export-oriented manufacturing.
“Through our proposed Casiguran International New Port, a flagship infrastructure project of APECO, we offer ASEAN a new Pacific-facing platform for transshipment, logistics, consolidation, cold chain, value-added processing, and export-oriented manufacturing,” Taway said.
“It is not being proposed to replace Shanghai, Singapore, Port Klang, Busan, or any of the region’s established hubs. It is being positioned as a complementary Pacific-facing transshipment and logistics hub; a new option for businesses that need redundancy, route flexibility, and direct access to Pacific markets,” he added.
APECO also highlighted the long-term potential of the Arctic Route, dubbed the “Golden Waterway”, as a restructured Asia-Europe trade pathway that could enhance the strategic importance of ports facing the Pacific.
“If this route becomes commercially viable at scale, vessels from Northern Europe could reach the Pacific through the Arctic, reducing dependence on traditional chokepoints such as the Suez Canal and reshaping the geography of Europe-Asia trade,” Taway said.
READ: APECO highlights planned port as alternative gateway to the Pacific
