Port firm sets aside P2.8B for capex plan this year

Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) is setting aside P2.8 billion in capital spending this year for its ports in Manila and Batangas after reporting an increase in profit in 2014.

ATI said the spending would be sourced from internally generated funds with the aim of expanding its port facilities “in support of the growing Philippine economy.”

“The planned capital expenditures will be used to acquire more container-handling equipment, upgrade port systems and technologies and develop new container storage areas within the Manila South Harbor expanded port zone and the Batangas port,” ATI said in its filing.

The company noted strong gains in its Batangas port last year as the traditionally underused facility benefited from diverted traffic due to Manila’s port congestion situation.

ATI said core profit, which removes the effect of foreign exchange gains, rose 17.8 percent to P1.85 billion in 2014. Its net income during the period hit P1.9 billion. It added that revenues grew 25.4 percent to P8.24 billion from P6.57 billion the previous year due to the higher international containerized cargo volumes in Batangas Container Terminal (BCT), the higher noncontainerized volumes handled in Port of Batangas and the higher revenues from Inland Clearance Depot.

In 2014, BCT handled a record-volume of over 98,000 TEUs (twenty-footer equivalent units) of international containers, surging by more than 750 percent from 2013.

The Batangas Port also remained as South Luzon’s biggest passenger port and preferred gateway for imported completely-built up car units, as well as bulk and break-bulk cargo.

Continued congestion in Manila in early 2015 helped lift volumes in Batangas, ATI had noted.

The company said volumes at the port in January 2015 surged 1,200 percent year-on-year.

The major contributor to BCT’s volume was leading intra-Asia carrier MCC Transport, which regularly deploys two weekly services via Batangas.

MCC’s Philippine Feeder 6 service offers faster connectivity between Batangas, Hong Kong and Yantian and cuts transit time by more than half for Batangas imports from North Asia via Hong Kong transshipment.

Meanwhile, MCC’s Intra-Asia 9 (IA9) service offers direct export connectivity to Hong Kong and Yantian as well as export transshipment to major Japan ports via Hong Kong. IA9 also facilitates direct and faster imports from Tanjung Pelepas and Singapore to Batangas.