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THE
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) reported a higher net
income for the first three months of the year.
In a
report, the authority said its net income before tax
reached P664 million, up 12 percent from P590.76 million
a year earlier.
PPA said
the strengthening of the peso against the dollar in
March had reduced its port revenue by P67.15 million.
The
state firm said it managed to increase income from the
growth in traffic volume and the impact of the
tariff-rate adjustment it had implemented late last
year.
According to the report, PPA had P112.22 million in
additional revenue from higher traffic volume and P28.22
million more in cash from tariff adjustment.
About 82
percent of PPA revenues for the period came from
government ports; the rest were from private ports.
For the
first quarter, the state firm said port revenues reached
P1.46 billion, up P232.41 million from its
January-to-March target.
“Except
for PDO [Port District Office] Northern Mindanao, where
port-traffic volume declined, all PDOs managed to exceed
their revenue targets for the period,” PPA said in the
report.
Fees
collected from International Container Terminal Services
Inc. (ICTSI), the country’s biggest port operator by
volume, remained the major contributor to PPA’s revenue.
ICTSI’s
fees “helped counterbalance the negative effect of the
fluctuations in the forex [foreign exchange] rate,” the
authority said.
In March
alone ICTSI fees, mainly from the company’s flagship
facility, Manila International Container Terminal,
reached P540.22 million, or P16 million more than a year
earlier.
Income
from PPA’s two top revenue contributors totaled P319.5
million in wharfage fees and P260.07 million in arrastre
and stevedoring fees.
On the
other hand, total expenses for the first quarter grew to
P817.2 million from P814.04 million a year earlier.
“The
meager increase in total expense was due to the decline
in the operating expenses brought about by the decreases
in repairs and maintenance, depreciation and depletion
and personal-service expenses,” the authority said.
PPA also
had an increase in nonoperating expense, which mainly
consists of interest charges on foreign loans.
Earlier
reports showed that cargo volume handled at the more
than 100 ports of PPA posted a modest increase of 1.3
percent to 32.54 million metric tons (MT) from January
to March, compared with 32.12 million MT a year earlier.
Domestic
cargo volume continues its decline, posting a decrease
of 4 percent to 16.32 million MT from 17.03 million MT
in the same period last year.
PPA said
it had seen a decline in cargoes handled in the ports of
Manila, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.
Export
and import shipments posted positive growth rates of 6
percent and 9 percent, respectively. The rise in volume
was mostly concentrated in the ports of Iloilo and San
Fernando, where a sharp rise in foreign cargoes by 925
percent and 420 percent, respectively, were recorded,
PPA said. |
