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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)
expects more ships to call at its port, with the
scheduled operation of the Freeport’s new container
terminal and the opening of the expressway linking
special economic zones in Subic, Pampanga and Tarlac.
The SBMA
Seaport Department has projected that it expects some
2,300 ships to call at its port in 2008, 30 percent more
than the 1,778 vessels which docked at its facilities
last year.
The
projected upswing is also expected to increase seaport
revenues by an estimated 5 percent, from the P218.1
million in 2007 to P228.2 million this year, said SBMA
senior deputy administrator for operations Ferdinand
Hernandez.
“From
where we stand, the SBMA Seaport Department is bound to
go higher, just as the SBMA has been given a fresh
mandate by the national government to be the engine
driver of Central Luzon’s economy, in particular, and
the Philippines, in general,” Hernandez said.
He added
that Subic’s new container terminal (NCT-1 and NCT-2),
which has a cargo-handling capacity of 600,000
twenty-foot metal containers, and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac
Expressway (SCTEX), which is expected to facilitate
movement of goods between the free ports of Subic and
Clark and the Luisita Economic Zone, will “bring Subic
online in terms of maritime trade.”
“These
two projects will be our road maps to progress,”
Hernandez added.
The SBMA
also said the expected rise in port calls this year
would follow gains made by Subic port in 2007, when ship
calls posted a five-year record.
SBMA
data indicate that ship calls here stood at 1,356 in
2003, rose to 1,442 in 2004, but dipped again to 1,251
in 2005.
Following the completion of the NCT-1 in 2006 and the
agency’s efforts to develop Subic’s maritime
capabilities, ship calls rose to 1,576 that year and
further increased to 1,778 in 2007.
Most of
the ships that docked here were trading vessels, with a
sprinkling of navy ships and tourist liners.
Barge
tankers made the most number of calls, with a total of
1,916 from 2003 to 2007; followed by general-cargo
vessels, with 1,469; fishing boats, with 870; container
ships, with 864; and general-cargo barges, with 731.
Bulk
carriers, meanwhile, made a total of 333 calls in the
same period, navy ships with 293, and oil tankers with
206.
The
Seaport Department added that with the expected rise in
ship calls this year, Subic also sees a bigger volume of
containerized cargo, from a total of 36,451 twenty-foot
metal containers in 2007 to 43,490 boxes this year.
Noncontainerized cargo is seen to increase to 2.66
million metric tons this year, from the 2007 volume of
1.89 million metric tons. In previous years,
noncontainerized cargo totaled 1.19 million metric tons
in 2003, 1.31 million in 2004, 1.20 million in 2005 and
1.59 million in 2006.
Of the
1,778 port calls in Subic last year, 923 were made by
foreign vessels and 855 by domestic ships. These
recorded a total gross registered tonnage (GRT) of 10.8
million, a figure the SBMA expects to grow to some 15
million this year.
SBMA
Seaport Department manager Perfecto Pascual said the
Seaport Department is also pushing plans to improve
Subic’s maritime
logistics capability. The projects include the
development of the NSD Logistics Center, which formerly
housed the US Navy’s Naval Supply Depot, and the
development of the Boton Wharf area as additional
logistics center. |
