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There is a need for a more efficient way to export more empty containers out of Manila terminals to improve utilization especially before volumes increase again during the “ber” months, according to the Bureau of Customs
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For the first six months of 2026, Manila International Container Terminal and Manila South Harbor handled 1.37 million twenty-foot equivalent units of imports and have exported 1.231 million TEUs of laden and empty containers, which means only 90% of what went in got out
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BOC Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group deputy commissioner Atty. Agaton Teodoro Uvero, citing BOC data, said Manila South Harbor is a net exporter of empties while MICT, which handles 60% of inbound containers in Manila, is a negative net exporter of empties
The Bureau of Customs called for a more efficient way to export more empty containers out of Manila terminals to improve utilization, especially before volumes increase again during the “ber” months.
For the first six months of 2026, Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and Manila South Harbor handled 1.37 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of imports and have exported 1.231 million TEUs of laden and empty containers, which meant only 90% of what went in got out.
This is lower than the rate in the past two years, based on the presentation of BOC Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group deputy commissioner Atty. Agaton Teodoro Uvero during the 6th Customs Industry Consultative and Advisory Council (CICAC) general assembly and 12th Central CICAC meeting on August 6.
BOC data show a 95% release in 2025, wherein 2.232 million TEUs went in as imports and 2.204 million TEUs were exported, and 98% in 2024 with 2.097 million TEUs for imports while 2.048 million TEUs were exports.
“On average, for every one container that comes in, one container should go out — regardless of whether that export is laden or empty — to prevent port congestion, but also because the regulation mandates the export of all containers after a fixed period,” Uvero said in a previous stakeholder consultation on port congestion.
“That 1:1 benchmark is the standard against which both terminals must be measured,” he added.
Based on BOC data, Uvero said Manila South Harbor is a net exporter of empties while MICT, which handles 60% of inbound containers in Manila, is a negative net exporter of empties.
For the first six months of 2026, Manila South Harbor handled more exports than imports, recording 382,738 TEUs of imports and 511,104 TEUs of laden and empty exports, or a 134% difference. The terminal has consistently been handling more exports than imports, even during the first two months of the year when it was experiencing high yard utilization.
For 2025, it posted 640,173 TEUs of imports and 809,454 TEUs of exports, and for 2024, 570,488 TEUs of imports and 720,117 TEUs in exports.
Manila South Harbor port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI), together with members of the Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL), since 2019 have been implementing the empty loadout shipping alliance (ELSA), an initiative that allows partner shipping lines to share vessel resources and load their excess empty containers onto the earliest available partner vessels.
In comparison, MICT, operated by operated by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), has been handling more import containers than export laden and empty boxes. For the first six months of 2026, MICT processed 986,837 TEUs of imports and 720,261 TEUs of export laden and empty containers, which meant only 73% of what came in went out.
In 2025, it recorded 1.683 million TEUs of imports and 1.395 million TEUs of exports. For 2024, it had 1.526 million TEUs of imports and 1.328 million TEUs of exports.
‘Modernized solution’
Uvero noted that utilization at MICT is again ranging in the 80% level, and with the ber months coming, there is a need for the “cooperation of every stakeholder as we continue identifying efforts to address this.”
He added that they will continue dialogues with terminal operators, the ports authority, and shipping lines in “hopefully identifying a modernized solution” to address port congestion in the future.
“But admittedly… the port resource in Metro Manila is really finite. Sooner or later, everyone should be going to either Subic or Batangas,” Uvero said.
Manila South Harbor and MICT experienced critically high yard utilization — breaching 100% at points — earlier this year due to what industry stakeholders described as “a convergence of seasonal, operational, and logistical factors observed since mid-December of last year,” according to AISL. Conditions improved from March, but utilization climbed again in late April. At Manila South Harbor, however, overall yard utilization has since improved, ranging more than 60% in July and early August.
BOC last March said it is looking to develop a comprehensive strategy to address port congestion, incorporating both operational and policy interventions.
READ: BOC orders strict monitoring of 90-day foreign container dwell time
Draft rules on empty container monitoring system up for review
The agency is reviewing container monitoring systems such as the Automated Container Movement Monitoring System, Customs Container Management System, and In-Transit Asset Management and Supervision System, and will pursue the accreditation of off-dock container depots.
Last June, BOC ordered the immediate adoption of three measures across Manila’s international terminals: the mandatory transfer of overstaying laden containers to off-dock yards, a strict five-day processing window for goods declarations, and the deployment of sweeper vessels for the evacuation and re-exportation of empty containers.
The BOC is also currently consolidating all comments submitted by stakeholders on the proposed joint administrative order (JAO) that seeks to address port congestion, high logistics costs, and inefficient return of empty containers, with a target to have the guidelines approved within August.
For its part, ATI last May 26 reiterated its request for immediate withdrawal of import boxes–both dry and reefers–as Manila South Harbor.
MICT, meanwhile, last May also urged shipping lines, customers, and consignees to expedite the withdrawal of laden containers as the terminal continued to experience higher-than-normal yard utilization due to longer container dwell times. It will implement temporary measures on shipping lines starting July 15 to stabilize service levels and ease pressure on operations amid elevated yard utilization.— Roumina Pablo
READ: PortCalls Special Report on Manila’s Cargo Crisis (Part 1) — When Sea and Air Feel the Squeeze
Manila’s Cargo Crisis (Part 2): Capacity Crunch at the Airport
