PPA: Cargo volume from January to November 2017 almost flat
By Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo, Reporter
TOTAL cargo volume from January to November 2017 posted flat growth, registering a 0.81% increase.
In a statement, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said that total cargo volume in the country from January to November 2017 registered an almost flat growth of 0.81%, to 227.312 million metric tons (mmt) from 225.495 mmt a year earlier.
On the other hand, local traffic of cargo recorded better figures.
Domestic traffic increased by 2.3%, while foreign cargoes “registered flat growth.”
Total container traffic increased by 53% to 9.084 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 5.940 million TEUs last year.
Foreign container traffic recorded a 23.25% increase in container volume to 4.361 million TEUs from 3.538 million TEUs last year.
“The positive outcome in traffic was propelled heavily by the continued reliance by the sea-traveling public on Ro-Ro vessels, fast crafts, and motorized bancas as primary mode of transportation for domestic inter-island connectivity,” PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said in a statement.
“In addition, the positive stream in passenger traffic serviced at the ports may have also been the result of favorable response of the public to the government’s domestic eco-tourism programs encouraging leisure inter-island Ro-Ro travel to tourist destinations such as Siargao, Puerto Galera, Bohol, Coron, El Nido, and other emerging tourism sites.”
Ship calls increased by 3.27% to 410,384 from 397,397 calls a year earlier.
