Maritime
PPA sets sight on infra build-up
as it marks its 44th Founding
Anniversary
M
arking its 44th anniversary exactly today, the Philippine
Ports Authority (PPA) is making a big investment in terms of
port infrastructure in its bid to achieve its vision by 2020.
It is also in line with the current thrust of the Duterte
administration to realize the golden age of infrastructure
and be at par with our international partners.
Incidentally, the move is also parallel to one of the major
programs of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of building better
ports for the future.
PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said the focus of the infrastructure
projects include full containerization of Philippine ports and the provision of
larger backup areas; safe and convenient Passenger Terminal Buildings (PTBs);
upgrade and construction of cruise terminals in key areas nationwide.
“The President’s and Sec. Arthur P. Tugade’s marching orders are to heavily
invest on port infrastructure in order to provide port services of global standards
by 2020,” Santiago said.
“Since the start of the year, almost all of our resources have been directed to
our port projects. We have already required all our contractors and suppliers to
increase their productivity in order to finish the projects, particularly the locally-
funded projects (LFPs), on time if not ahead of time,” Santiago stressed.
“This year, we have earmarked close to P6 billion to carry out our LFPs, which
run to around 109 port projects, wherein, 46 are from Luzon, 23 in the Visayas and
40 projects in Mindanao,” Santiago said.
For the Luzon port projects, a total of 9 have already been completed while 18
are ongoing and 19 projects are under procurement. In the Visayas, 6 have already
been completed, 10 are ongoing while 5 projects are under procurement.
Mindanao, meanwhile, registered the biggest number of completed projects
with 21 while 49 projects are ongoing. The region also has 35 projects under
procurement.
Currently, PPA is also carrying out several infrastructure projects in key areas to
support the booming cruise industry aimed at developing international hubs for
cruise liners like Surigao, Ilocos Norte, Bohol, Boracay, Metro Manila and Palawan.
These make up the nation’s major nautical cruise arteries. It has also lined up
various port programs for the development of cruise terminals in the above areas.
Financial Performance
As a result of its aggressive infrastructure push, the PPA registered lower net
income in the first five months of the year as its expenses soared, as expected, to
finance the said projects.
PPA’s total revenues for the first five months of 2018 went up by 13% to P6.84
billion from P6.04 billion a year earlier.
Expenses, however, went up 44% to P3.01 billion from P2.08 billion in 2017
primarily due to the huge infra spending particularly on repair and maintenance
and Land improvements that increased more than 139%, resulting in a net income
of P3.83 billion or some 3.24% lower than the P3.96 billion posted in the same
period in 2017.
Nonetheless, despite the huge financial requirements, the PPA remains very
liquid and financially stable with a net worth of P187.57 billion.
Operational Highlights
Philippine cargo throughput for the first 5 months of the year slightly increased
by 0.44% due to the high activity in domestic consumption and positive business
14
PPA General Manager Jay
Daniel R. Santiago
Credit: The CEO Magazine
climate nationwide.
Total throughput reached 98.89 million metric tons (mmt) for the period
compared to the 2017 figure of 98.46 mmt wherein domestic cargo volume went
up almost 4% to 42.36 mmt. Foreign cargo traffic decreased by 1.85% to 56.524
mmt wherein imported products inched up by 4% to 37.99 mmt while export
volume declined by 12.12% to 18.52 mmt.
In terms of container traffic, volume soared by 8.6% to 3.02 million twenty-
foot equivalent units (TEUs) as against the 2017 same period volume of 2.78
million TEUs. Domestic boxes registered an increase of 9.4% to 1.23 million
TEUs compared to the 1.12 million TEUs handled last year while foreign boxes
registered an increase of 8% to 1.79 million TEUs from 1.65 million TEUs in 2017.
Passenger volume continued to expand as of end May as it increased by 9.3% to
36.76 million versus the 33.63 million handled in the same period last year due to
the increase in reliance by the sea-traveling public on Ro-Ro vessels, fastcrafts, and
motorized bancas for inter-island travel particularly in the ports of Bohol, Masbate,
Mindoro, Negros Oriental and Siquijor and Negros Occidental-Bacolod-Banago
area.
The positive stream in passenger traffic is also due to the favorable response
of the public to the government’s domestic eco-tourism programs encouraging
inter-island leisure travel through Ro-Ro vessels. The soaring international cruise
tourism industry has also positively contributed to the overall performance of the
country’s passage industry as it soared by more than 184.76% from a mere 43,820
international cruise passengers last year to 124,779 passengers this year. The
concentration of cruise ship passengers is at the ports of Manila, Panay/Guimaras,
Batangas and Palawan.
There is also no sign of port congestion in any of the major gateway ports of