INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) said it saw record productivity at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) for August and September.
In a statement, the Razon-led port operator said the MICT posted an increase in berth productivity of 22% and 13% in August and September, respectively.
However, ICTSI did not disclose the specific number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) recorded for the two months. TEU is the unit of cargo used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals.
“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, was quoted as saying in the statement.
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 4,545,405 TEUs during the January to June period, 7% higher than the 4,264,633 TEUs handled in the same period in 2016.
In December last year, MICT hit record volume and productivity with its first two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) move, which triggered the multi-billion pesos capacity improvement commitment with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). ICTSI said in July that yard utilization at the MICT was at 61% in May, still below the 70% ideal percentage.
ICTSI said its net income attributable to equity holders increased by 19% to $103.6 million in the first six months of 2017. Gross revenues from port operations went up by 10% to $603.7 million. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo
