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THE
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) collected higher
revenues for the first 11 months last year as a result
of increased cargo handled in its facilities. However,
gains were wiped out owing to the strong peso and the
spike in maintenance costs.
In a
report, the PPA said that port revenues grew by almost 5
percent to P5.54 billion from January to November
compared with last year, slightly higher than its
P5.5-billion target.
From
only P5.19 billion during the same period last year,
revenues went slightly above expectations due to the
increase in the volume of traffic, the impact of the
tariff adjustment, and the yearly fixed fee hike of the
International Container Terminal Services Inc., the
operator of the country’s largest container port in
Manila.
However,
expenses went up by 16 percent, reaching P2.87 billion
from the previous year’s P2.46 billion. The PPA said
that this was due to the accelerated expense on repair
and maintenance projects, high cost of utilities and
services and other depreciation charges.
Its
nonoperating expenses surged by P57.5 million to P156.08
million, which mainly consists of interest charges on
foreign loans and extraordinary losses.
The
PPA’s fund-management income went down by P116.5
million, or down by about 50 percent to P116.5 million
from P212 million last year, as a result of the “decline
on the interest income yield and lower investible fund
during the period,” the PPA said in a report.
As a
result, PPA said that it had a net income of P2.66
billion for the 11-month period, or about 10 percent
lower than the previous year’s P2.94 billion.
Total
cargo throughput at the PPA’s terminals for the 10-month
period of 2007 ending October was up by about 7 percent
to 135.4 million metric tons, mainly as a result of the
volume increase in foreign cargoes of 13 percent.
On the
other hand, domestic volume growth remained slow and
climbed a modest 1.8 percent for the period to 60.14
million metric tons from the previous 59.06 million
metric tons.
The PPA
said major ports of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway
maintained their double-digit growth in volume, led by
its facilities Batangas, Calapan and Tagbilaran. |
