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Subic Bay
Freeport—Two significant events taking place in the early
part of 2008 will bring the
Port of
Subic
to greater heights, predicted Subic Bay Metropolitan
Authority (SBMA) deputy administrator for port operations
Ferdinand Hernandez. Writing in the 2007 year-end report
of the SBMA Seaport Department, Hernandez said the
scheduled operation this year of
Subic’s New Container Terminal-1 (NCT-1), and the opening of the
Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) “will bring the SBMA
and [its] Seaport Department online.”
“These are
our road maps toward progress,” he added. “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.”
The
optimism carried by Hernandez’s report echoes the
persistent vision of SBMA officials to bring this former
naval base to the top of the heap in what it does
best—being a seaport and a maritime service and supply
center.
YACHTS participating in the
16th President’s Cup Regatta race past the Hanjin shipyard
at Subic’s Redondo Peninsula, where the first ship to be
manufactured in Subic is scheduled to be launched in June.
-- HENRY
EMPEÑO
Last year
the SBMA completed a new container terminal with two
berths at Cubi Point, a short distance from the Subic Bay
International Airport.
The two
new berths, equipped with four quay gantry cranes with a
total capacity of 600,000 TEUs, have the capability to
accommodate Panamax and post-Panamax vessels.
The agency
also rehabilitated last year
Subic’s Marine Terminal,
Boton
Wharf and Nabasan Wharf—three of the 15 piers built by the
US Navy in Subic, and constructed a new administration
building to house the agency’s seaport operations units.
These
projects, SBMA officials said, are designed to bring
Subic’s old glory as a repair and resupply base for
maritime vessels.
Since
becoming
Spain’s
royal port in 1884 because of its deepwater harbor,
sheltered anchorage, strategic location and healthy
environment—attributes discovered by the Spaniards as
early as 1592, this port northwest of
Manila
had successively been a naval arsenal and ship-repair
facility.
It fell
under the conquistadors until the Spanish-American, taken
over by the United States Navy starting 1899, briefly held
by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, then
was reborn afterward as an American naval base until 1992.
After the
RP-US Military Bases Agreement was rejected in 1991,
leading to the creation of the Subic Bay Freeport and
Special Economic Zone the following year, there began the
speedy development of the former military base into an
economic growth area.
Thus,
factories and other businesses began mushrooming in the
country’s first free port, taking over former US Navy
barracks and offices, and changing the landscape of the
former maritime port with the addition of new hotels,
restaurants and other facilities.
Then in
1997 the SBMA began reviving
Subic’s almost-forgotten stature as an strategic Asian port,
formulating the Subic Bay Port Development Program that
eventually led to the release in March 2000 of a
$215-million loan from the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation for the construction of a container terminal
in
Subic.
This
thrust was further heightened in 2006 when the SBMA came
up with a revitalized vision for Subic Bay, refocusing its
energies to making Subic both a maritime service and
logistics hub, and a shipbuilding center.
“Without
the port, Subic would amount to nothing,” said SBMA
chairman Feliciano Salonga, who is championing Subic’s
push to become a player in the global maritime trade.
The
investment here by Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. in a
$1.7-billion shipbuilding facility here, the completion of
the first phase of Subic’s container terminal, as well as
the recent commitment by Jafza International to develop
Subic’s Boton marine logistics area seem to bolster SBMA’s
decision to redirect Subic to where it has excelled.
Today the
Port of Subic is rising to meet the call for renewed
involvement in maritime trade, figures from the SBMA
Seaport Department show.
Ship calls
had increased from a total of 1,576 in 2006 to 1,778 in
2007. This year’s projection goes still higher: 2,294,
with total gross tonnage of 15 million compared with 10.8
million in 2007.
Subic also
forecasts a bigger volume of containerized cargo this
year, from a total of 36,451 TEUs last year to 43,490 TEUs
in 2008.
In terms
of noncontainerized cargo, this year’s forecast is 2.66
million metric tons, a considerable increase over the 2007
record of 1.89 million metric tons. Records in the
previous years stood at 1.19 million in 2003, 1.31 million
in 2004, 1.20 million in 2005 and 1.59 million in 2006.
Meanwhile,
the SBMA Seaport Department sees a revenue of P228.2
million this year, compared with actual revenue
collections of P218.1 million in 2007.
The 2008
forecasts, the SBMA said, “can be easily achieved with the
opening of the SCTEx and the operation of the NCT-1,” as
well as the planned opening of Subic’s Sattler Pier for
bulk and breakbulk operations.
The SBMA
Seaport Department is also seeking the implementation of
several projects to beef up Subic’s maritime logistics
strength, said its manager, retired Navy Capt. Perfecto
Pascual.
These
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 as additional logistics
center.
The NSD
project will cost P190 million, while the Boton project
will cost P210 million. | 
