ATI earmarks additional cash for investments

MANILA, Philippines—Domestic port operator Asian Terminals Inc. may boost investments by as much as 50 percent of its current budget should additional seaports be made available by the government for privatization.

In a briefing, ATI president Eusebio Tanco said the publicly listed firm had P1 billion kept in reserve that it could tap should any investment opportunity open up.

In particular, company officials said they were interested in the government’s public private partnership scheme, especially those that involved the farming out of domestic ports to private operators.

“We won’t divert into noncore (operations),” Tanco said. “We’re very focused on our core business.”

The additional cash for investments would be on top of the P1.9 billion in capital expenditure that the publicly listed firm had allocated for this year.

The bulk of this would be used for the improvement of ATI’s flagship facility, the South Harbor International Container Terminal, officials said.

“We have quite a big investment program in South Harbor,” said executive vice president Ernst Schulze. “We just acquired last year two new cranes, and they are being commissioned at the moment. And there is a lot of infrastructure (facilities being constructed).”

The company is also implementing additional improvements in its operations in the Port of Batangas which, together with the Port of General Santos, formed part of ATI’s portfolio of port facilities.

At the same time, company officials expressed optimism about the prospects of the domestic port operation market on both the passenger and cargo sides, given the resurgent Philippine economy aided by renewed optimism among both investors and consumers.

According to Schulze, the country’s high population growth also bodes well for ATI since this will translate to higher passenger and cargo traffic over the long term.

Historically, the domestic ports business grows by 6 to 7 percent yearly, but this could pick up to a range of 7 to 8 percent per year, he said.

ATI expects the bulk of growth to come from the Luzon and Mindanao markets, while expansion in the Visayas will likely be felt strongest in the Port of Cebu.

Tanco said the number of passengers traveling by sea had started to recover after several years of decline brought about by the entry of budget airlines into the market.