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Higher domestic and foreign shipments lifted Philippine ports’ cargo volumes by 6.6% to 232.578 million metric tons in the first nine months of 2025
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Container traffic grew 11.3% to 6.378 million TEUs while Ro-Ro traffic expanded 11.4% to 9.617 million vehicle units
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Passenger traffic was 4.3% higher at 63.061 million, with cruise ship passengers surging 83.3% to 147,711
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Among the base ports, Manila International Container Terminal handled the biggest cargo and container volumes
Higher domestic and foreign shipments lifted Philippine ports’ cargo volumes by 6.6% to 232.578 million metric tons (mt) in the first nine months of 2025 from 218.088 million mt recorded in the same period last year, according to preliminary data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
Of the total, foreign cargoes accounted for 63.1% while domestic cargoes shared 36.9%.
From January to September this year, domestic cargoes grew 9.8% to 85.772 million mt from 78.131 million mt in the same period last year. Foreign cargoes likewise improved 4.9% to 146.807 million mt from 139.956 million mt.
Imports rose 3.8% year-on-year to 83.147 million mt while exports increased 6.3% year-on-year to 63.66 million mt.
In terms of regions, Luzon ports covered 52.5% of the total volumes with 122.154 million mt, 10.7% higher than the 110.334 million mt posted in the first nine months of last year.
PPA ports in the Visayas handled 44.103 million mt, up 3.9% from 42.467 million mt. Cargoes at Mindanao ports also grew 1.6% to 66.321 million mt from 65.286 million mt.
The top five base ports in terms of volumes handled during the January-September 2025 period were Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) with 21.82 million mt, base port North Harbor with 13.164 million mt, base port South Harbor with 6.771 million mt, base port Cagayan de Oro with 5.312 million mt, and base port Iloilo with 2.769 million mt.
In terms of container traffic PPA ports recorded 6.378 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first nine months of the year, 11.3% higher than the 5.729 million TEUs posted in the same period in 2024, as both domestic and foreign container traffic grew double-digits.
READ: PH cargo volume up 7.3% in Jan-Sept 2024
Domestic containers, which accounted for 35% of the total, rose 12.4% to 2.227 million TEUs from 1.982 million TEUs.
Growth in import and export containers also lifted foreign container traffic by 10.8% to 4.151 million TEUs from 3.747 million TEUs.
Import containers climbed up 9.7% year-on-year to 2.093 million TEUs while exports surged 11.9% year-on-year to 2.058 million TEUs.
Luzon ports, which shared 76.3% of the total container traffic, handled 12.3% more containers to 4.864 million TEUs from 4.331 million TEUs last year.
Visayas ports saw a 1.7% improvement to 341,094 TEUs from 335,505 TEUs while Mindanao ports posted a 10.4% growth to 1.173 million TEUs from 1.062 million TEUs.
In terms of base ports, the top five ports handling the highest number of containers were MICT (2.298 million TEUs), base port South Harbor (1.099 million TEUs), base port North Harbor (1.052 million TEUs), base port Batangas (248,849 TEUs), and base port Cagayan de Oro (225,498 TEUs).
Roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) traffic likewise expanded 11.4% to 9.617 million vehicle units from 8.630 million units last year.
READ: Cargo traffic in PH ports rises 7.8% in first semester
PPA ports also saw higher passenger traffic in the nine-month period with 63.061 million passengers, up 4.3% from 60.481 million passengers recorded in the same period last year. Cruise passengers also increased 83.3% to 147,711 from 80,588 last year.
Ship calls to ports under PPA jurisdiction were 7.13% higher in the first nine months of this year at 502,654 from 469,195 in the same period last year. Domestic ship calls, which account for bulk of the total, grew 7.3% year-on-year to 494,099 vessels while foreign ship calls slightly improved by 0.4% to 8,555 vessels.
For this year, PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago earlier said they target to handle 301.47 million mt cargoes and 85.41 million passengers. – Roumina Pablo
