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WITH the
new container terminal still unprepared to accept cargo,
the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said it is
deferring its privatization of the Naval Supply Depot.
SBMA
seaport chief Perfecto Pascual said last week they would
have to wait for the New Container Terminal 1 (NCT-1) to
be operational before the officials managing the former
American naval base could go forward with selling the
depot.
“We have
to defer privatization to next year despite earlier
announcement to go with the process ahead of the full
transfer to NCT 1 since all cargoes are still
concentrated to the depot as the new terminal is not yet
ready to accept cargo,” Pascual said.
He said
no major changes will be made in the terms of reference
covering the depot despite the suspension of the
process.
According to the terms, private sector developers,
including foreign proponents, will be allowed to bid for
the 25-year operation of the depot and convert it to
handle general cargoes.
The said
conversion was needed since there will be cutthroat
competition between NCT-1 and the NSD, which at the
moment Pascual said have same type of handling
containerized-cargo services.
The
depot, formerly used by International Container Terminal
Services Inc., can handle 100,000 twenty-foot equivalent
units (TEUs).
Among
the cargoes expected to be handled at the port include
steel, agricultural products, and silica sand.
Ictsi,
the Philippines’s largest private port operator, decided
to abandon the depot after the firm won the contract to
operate the NCT-1, which has a capacity of handling
300,000 TEUs.
The SBMA
has been developing port facilities, even if cargo
volume handled for the last few years has been thin.
Last
year, the Port of Subic handled cargoes amounting to
34,601 TEUs, with imports consisting more than half of
the total.
The SBMA
also increased to 15 days its current 10-day
free-storage period to attract more businesses to use
the
Freeport.
It
expects both the NCT-1 and NCT-2 to “catalyze” economic
growth in the area and promote the growth corridor
between and along Clark Field and Subic Bay as the most
viable regional logistics hub.
Each of
the container terminals have two gantry cranes with a
capacity of 40.6 tons and two berths measuring 280
meters in length with a depth of 13 meters, which were
far more deeper than the ports in Manila. |
