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Philippine cargo volume jumped 7.3% year-on-year in January to September to 218.277 million metric tons
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Container traffic at ports under PPA jurisdiction went up 3.5% to 5.718 million TEUs
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Ship calls to PPA ports soared 13.5% to 469,480
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Passenger traffic improved 10.3% while rolling cargoes were 7.9% higher at 8.612 million units
Philippine cargo volume grew 7.3% year-on-year in January to September with higher domestic and foreign cargoes recorded during the period, preliminary data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed.
Ports under PPA jurisdiction handled 218.277 million metric tons (mt), up from 203.506 million mt in January to September 2023.
Foreign cargoes, which accounted for 64% of the total volume, grew 8.1% to 140.211 million mt from 129.708 million mt.
Domestic cargoes rose 5.8% to 78.066 million mt from 73.798 million mt last year.
Imports in the first nine months improved 6.7% year-on-year to 80.379 million mt while exports surged 10% to 59.833 million mt.
Luzon ports accounted for 50.5% or 110.124 million mt of the total volume for the first nine months. This was 2.9% higher than the 107.056 million mt registered in the same period last year.
Representing 30% or 65.203 million mt were Mindanao ports, which saw a 13% jump from 57.724 million posted last year.
Visayas ports processed 10.9% more cargoes with 42.951 million mt.
Container traffic
In terms of containers, PPA ports in the first nine months of the year serviced 5.718 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 3.5% from 5.527 million TEUs year-on-year.
Domestic containers rose 4.5% to 1.973 million TEUs from 1.888 million TEUs while foreign containers grew 2.9% to 3.745 million TEUs from 3.639 million TEUs.
Import containers posted a 5.3% increase to 1.907 million TEUs while exports improved 0.5% to 1.838 million TEUs.
Containers handled by Luzon ports in the first nine months of the year climbed 4.2% to 4.329 million TEUs from 4.154 million TEUs while Visayas ports posted a 5.4% increase to 337,108 TEUs from 319,867 TEUs.
An outlier, Mindanao ports registered a 0.12% decline in containers handled to 1.052 million TEUs from 1.054 million TEUs.
Rolling cargoes, meanwhile, reached 8.612 million units in the first nine months of the year, 7.9% higher than the 7.981 million units reported in the same period last year.
Ship calls to PPA ports in January-September 2024 grew 13.5% to 469,480 from 413,749 in the same period last year.
Domestic ship calls, which account for the bulk of total ship calls, increased 13.7% to 460,970 while foreign ship calls were up 2.2% to 8,510.
Passenger traffic during the first nine months of the year likewise continued to grow, improving 10.3% to 60.473 million passengers from 54.829 million passengers in the same period last year.
Cruise ship passengers saw a whopping 70% increase to 80,588 from 47,372.
PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago earlier said they were eyeing a 10%-13% year-on-year growth in cargo volumes and 30%-33% higher passenger traffic in 2024.
PPA ports in 2023 handled 272.46 million mt of cargoes and 73.637 million passengers. – Roumina Pablo
