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The Department of Agriculture recommends use of Subic port as discharge port for containers of imported livestock and raw materials, especially during the peak season
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DA said industry end-users can lower livestock production costs when they take advantage of benefits offered by Subic Bay International Terminal Corp.
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Benefits include free storage of 10 days; lower port fees; no truck ban; and good connection to Manila
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has endorsed Subic port as a discharge port for containers of imported livestock and raw materials.
“Cognizant of the peak season and delays bringing in cargo to Luzon especially during the peak season, we would like to recommend to the industry to use SBITC (Subic Bay International Terminal Corp.)/Subic as a recommended disport for containers for livestock and raw material importation as soon as possible,” DA undersecretary for consumer affairs Ernesto Gonzales said in a November 27 letter to Roberto Locsin, general manager of port operator SBITC.
“We understand that [with] the use of SBITC, it will make it easier for industry end-users to take advantage of the benefits that your terminal offers which will potentially lower livestock production costs,” Gonzales added.
He noted such benefits include free storage of 10 days at Subic port; lower port fees compared to other Luzon ports; no truck ban going to Subic for facilities located north of Metro Manila; and Subic port being already well connected to Manila with new infrastructure projects in the pipeline.
Gonzales said DA “will work with industry players to push for unimpeded trade and we will work towards this recommendation.”
SBITC holds the contract to manage and operate Subic port’s container terminals, New Container Terminals (NCT) 1 and 2. NCT 1 has an annual capacity of 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
READ: Subic port reports 26% drop in container traffic in Jan-Sep
For the first nine months of the year, container traffic at Subic port declined 26% to 170,154 TEUs from 231,038 TEUs in the same period last year as global trade declined due to COVID-19-related restrictions. – Roumina Pablo
