ICTSI’s Manila operations hit fresh record

Tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.’s International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) announced that it hit a new record in terms of productivity at its flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).

Citing the months of August and September 2017, ICTSI said berth activity in MICT rose 22 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

“Management acknowledges the excellent work our prime mover, quay crane, rubber tired gantry, and stacker operators have put in to reach high berth productivity.  As early as 2000, we have been rewarding our operators and, as a result, ICTSI enjoys a very low turnover rate,” Jay Valdez, MICT operations director, said in a statement on Thursday.

“As an inclusive business, ICTSI remains committed to the safety and welfare of our equipment operators.  They put themselves at risk operating these massive machines, and it is but proper that we look after their safety and welfare,” Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI senior vice president and head of Asia Pacific and MICT, said in the same statement.

ICTSI noted that it regularly sends manpower to other terminals within the group for training, secondment and other assignment overseas.

This practice, considering the diversity of ICTSI’s portfolio, allows the ICTSI to share best practices and improve the technical skills of their employees.

“One of ICTSI’s core strengths is a highly capable manpower.  It’s really the key to the way we operate all of our terminal concessions worldwide.  We start by bringing people in from our headquarters in Manila to jumpstart operations and train the locals who will eventually take over once everything is in place.  But at the end, our goal is for each of our terminals to be run by 100 percent local manpower,” Gonzalez said.

ICTSI announced earlier that it would spend another $80 million to expand and modernize MICT.

The company was pursuing fresh expansion after hitting the two-million TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) mark last year, a company milestone. /je