Container volume at Subic Bay’s New Container Terminal 1 (NCT 1) from January to July grew 30.62% to 25,976 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) from 19,886 TEUs in the same period last year.
The jump is seen by many as proof positive that more Northern Luzon shippers are now using Subic as an alternative port to congested Manila, suffering from the Manila truck ban.
The seven-month traffic is nearing the 34,847 TEUs total container volume seen by the port for the entire 2013, with only 8,871 TEUs needed to break last year’s total.
NCT 1 would have to handle a monthly average of 1,774 TEUs from August until the end of the year to at least hit the 2013 aggregate.
An executive at Subic Bay International Terminal Corp, operator of NCT 1, noted that such monthly volume is easily attainable considering that last year’s average monthly throughput was only 2,000 TEUs, and there are still five months to go before the year closes.
The highest throughput growth at NCT 1 this year was recorded in July with a 95.94% surge to 6,144.75 TEUs from 3,136 TEUs year-on-year. The July figure was also 125.64% higher than June’s 2,723.5 TEUs.
Meanwhile, NCT 1 will over the entire month of August host about 1,700 empty containers owned by Maersk. PortCalls sources said Maersk will move the containers out of congested Manila. The empties will be loaded onto a new boxship commissioned by Maersk from Hanjin in Subic set to be turned over end of August.
PortCalls sources earlier said San Miguel, Yokohama and LBC Express will soon make trial shipments in Subic and if all goes well, will use the Northern hub for its import shipments.– Roumina Pablo
