Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Wilma Eisma said total port revenue from January to May 2017 in Subic reached P488.82 million, or 11-percent higher than the P440.99 million recorded in the same period last year.
“Considering that there were less ship calls this year than last year—we had a total of 1,164 in January to May 2017 compared to 1,414 in 2016—then that was still a remarkable achievement for Subic,” she said.
Eisma added Subic port registered a 23-percent increase in export value, reaching $1.06 billion in the first five months of 2017 compared to $865.26 million in the same period last year.
She even cited Subic’s import shipments rose by 9 percent in the same period, or from $628.65 million last year to the current $682.18 million.
The SBMA official said that much of the growth in the port business in Subic involved containerized cargo, which increased in volume from 51,346 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in January-May 2016 to 55,516 TEUs this year, for an 8-percent increase.
Non-containerized cargo volume, on the other hand, suffered a 5-percent decrease, as only 2.96 million metric tons passed through the Port of Subic this year, compared to 3.12 million MTs last year.
Still, the Port of Subic continues to attract more business, as 10 shipping lines now regularly call on Subic, said Ronnie Yambao, head of the SBMA Port Marketing Office.
Yambao said shipping lines include major players like the Taiwan-based Evergreen, which is the fifth biggest
shipping company in the world; the Singapore-based American President Lines; Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha of Japan; Mitsui OSK Lines also of Japan; SITC Container Lines of China; and Wan Hai Lines of Taiwan.
Other shipping firms that call on Subic are Bow Ship Management Inc. and T. Madsen Ship.
Yambao said SBMA seeks to increase container traffic in the Subic Bay Freeport and actively promotes Subic as an ideal shipping port for businesses in Central and Northern Luzon.