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Cargo throughput handled by Philippine ports grew 31.6% in the first quarter of 2023 driven mainly by a doubling in import volume
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Containerized traffic rose 5.6% year on year (YoY) to 1.995 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 1.889 million TEUs
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Shipcalls increased 13.3% YoY to 125,722 from 110,967
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Passenger traffic was 52.2% higher while roll-on/toll-traffic grew 4.5%
Cargo throughput at Philippine ports grew 31.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023 driven by a doubling in import volume, preliminary data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed.
From January to March 2023, ports under PPA jurisdiction recorded total volume of 77.225 million metric tons (mt), higher than the 58.661 million mt posted in the same period last year, based on data posted on the port authority’s website.
Of the total, foreign cargoes accounted for 69%. Foreign cargoes increased 61.2% YoY in the first quarter of the year to 53.319 million mt from 33.069 million mt.
Imports surged 100.9% to 44.485 million mt from 22.145 million mt while exports dropped 19.1% to 8.834 million mt from 10.924 million mt.
Domestic cargoes, meanwhile, reached 23.905 million mt, a 6.6% decline from 25.592 million mt in the first quarter of last year.
By region, Luzon ports accounted for 72.7% of the total, while Visayas and Mindanao ports made up 13.2% and 14.1%, respectively.
Luzon ports recorded the highest increase in cargoes handled with 56.158 million mt in the first three months of the year, up 61.4% YoY from 34.791 million mt.
Visayas ports, on the other hand, serviced 10.9% less with 10.206 million mt versus 11.453 million mt in the first quarter of 2022. Cargoes handled by Mindanao ports likewise fell 12.5% to 10.86 million mt from 12.417 million mt.
Containerized traffic at PPA ports in the first quarter of the year rose 5.6% to 1.995 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 1.889 million TEUs in the same quarter last year.
The improvement came from increases recorded in both domestic and foreign boxes.
Domestic containers climbed 6.3% to 802,409.75 TEUs from 754,763 TEUs while foreign containers went up 5.1% to 1.192 million TEUs from 1.135 million TEUs.
Import containers grew 2.9% to 572,981.75 TEUs from 556,569 TEUs. Export containers likewise increased 7.2% to 619,367.75 TEUs from 577,933 TEUs.
In terms of regions, Luzon ports saw an 11.1% improvement to 1.553 million TEUs from 1.398 million TEUs last year.
Containers handled at Visayas ports, on another note, dropped 18.1% to 105,329 TEUs from 128,529 TEUs. Mindanao ports also saw a 7.3% decline to 336,010.75 TEUs from 362,498 TEUs previously.
Shipcalls in the first quarter of the year rose 13.3% to 125,722 from 110,967 in the same period last year.
Domestic shipcalls, which accounts for bulk of the total, was up 13.6% fto 123,036 from 108,300 last year. Foreign shipcalls slightly grew 0.7% to 2,686 from 2,667.
Passenger traffic continued to increase in the first quarter of the year, recording 15.781 million, which was 52.2% higher than the 10.368 million serviced in the same period last year, PPA also recorded 31,374 cruise passengers as cruise ships finally resumed calls to the Philippines this year after being suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roll-on/roll-off traffic also saw a 4.5% improvement to 2.396 million from 2.293 million last year.
PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago earlier said they are looking at a 7-8% growth in cargo and container traffic this year.
