ASIAN Terminals, Inc. (ATI) said on Thursday that it will have to review its strategies, especially its alternative revenue sources, as container volumes are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.
“The company does not expect volumes to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 or 2023,” ATI Executive Vice-President William Khoury said at the company’s online annual stockholders’ meeting.
He added: “In this regard, we have to replace the following measures: alternative sources of revenues — for example integration of services, provide logistics services, and so on — ongoing cost-saving initiatives, and delay of all unnecessary capital expenditures.”
The company invested a total of P2 billion in 2020, which was a significant reduction from the previous year’s, according to Mr. Khoury.
ATI is spending approximately P6 billion this year.
In March, the company announced that its capital expenditure budget for this year will be used to support the acquisition of “more modern cargo handling equipment and the development of related logistics infrastructure projects” in Manila, Batangas, Laguna, and Cavite.
The company has said developing more cargo storage spaces, offering ancillary services leveraged on its core ports business, and new port operations here and abroad are among the opportunities it is exploring.
ATI saw its attributable net income for 2020 drop 20.4% to P2.95 billion. Revenues from operations declined 17.8% to P10.96 billion last year. — Arjay L. Balinbin
