Listed port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) has completed its system upgrade at the Batangas Container Terminal (BCT), equipping the Southern Luzon gateway with a more comprehensive operations infrastructure to support its rapidly growing container volumes.
Interfaced with Navis Sparcs, the sophisticated technology that drives leading terminals across the world, BCT’s enhanced operations system offers an integrated platform for berth, yard, gate, and customer processing for faster transactions.
In a statement, ATI said the upgrade complements the steady growth of BCT, which provides Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) industries with an increasingly competitive port alternative.
In October alone, BCT handled 19,552 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU), a company record high for a single month and representing a year-on-year growth of 2,033%.
For the 10-month period, BCT handled 67,865 TEUs, surpassing its full-year 2013 volume of 11,019.5 TEUs by eightfold.
Various international carriers call BCT weekly to connect Calabarzon shippers to regional trade hubs like Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and Indonesia.
ATI noted that BCT is equipped with two quay cranes, four rubber-tired gantry cranes, and other mobile equipment to provide an annual throughput capacity of over 300,000 TEUs and sufficiently handle Calabarzon’s current and future cargo volumes.
Andrew Hoad, ATI executive vice president, admitted that the terminal had a “little bit of difficulty in production” initially when “a very large volume came down all at the same time” within four weeks and five new services appeared.
“Our production rate in Batangas is currently higher than (in) Manila,” Hoad said during the Manila Ports Forum on November 27.
Hoad said capacity at the port has increased 30% to 40% and current yard utilization is down to 49%.
Four shipping lines serve BCT at present from six a few months ago. However, Hoad said capacity deployed by carriers has increased, such as intra-Asia liner MCC which doubled its volume to 1,500 TEUs.
Hoad said they are expecting more services to call BCT in the future. – Text and photo by Roumina Pablo
