Enrique Razon Jr.’s International Container Terminal Services Inc.(ICTSI) is seeking to revive an existing railway line that will link its inland container terminal in Laguna to its flagship seaport in Manila, a statement on Tuesday showed.
ICTSI vice president and head of Asia-Pacific region Christian Gonzalez revealed this plan during the groundbreaking of expansion facilities for its Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal, or LGICT, located about 58 kilometers south of Metro Manila.
“It is a great aspiration that we have, not only to see this develop as an inland container terminal in today’s form, but also as an inland container terminal connected by rail to the country’s premier port in its future form,” Gonzalez said in his speech e-mailed to the media Tuesday.
He was referring to a planned railroad connection “that will directly link LGICT and ICTSI’s flagship Manila International Container Terminal.”
“I think this ambition that we have is something that requires congratulations at this point. Obviously, with all the hard work from all of us and help of the government, we will make this a reality in the coming years,” Gonzalez added.
ICTSI was the first logistics company to introduce intermodal freight transport in the Philippines when it offered container transport service by rail from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
The company divested from the business in 2003 due to a slowdown in the container market in southern Luzon. The improving Philippine economy in recent years resulted in increased container traffic, prompting ICTSI to re-open the Laguna dry port in March to support the growing volume. ICTSI also plans to revive the rail freight service to and from the MICT and the Laguna dry port in the near future.
The dry port’s current annual capacity of 250,000 TEUs effectively increases the port’s capacity by 10 percent. LGICT will help lower Manila International Containers import inventory, average import dwell time and laden yard utilization by offering storage services to clients in southern Luzon.
Initially, the newly opened Laguna dry port has four hectares of container yard operational and uses reach stackers in the hauling of containers. Phase 1 civil works, which is estimated to cost P587 million, is eyed for completion by yearend. On full development, the dry port will have an area of 21 hectares and will include facilities for reefer containers, truck holding areas, a fuel station, a rail workshop and container freight stations.
In a separate filing ICTSI said its wholly owned subsidiary , ICTSI Cooperatief U.A. and its partner, La Societe De Gestion Immobiliere Lengo, (Simobile) signed a share transfer agreement with Societe Commerciale Des Transports Et Des Ports SA, or SCTP SA.