Truck ban deals blow to ports cargo traffic

MANILA – Container cargo traffic fell in the first half of the year as a result of the truck ban policy of the city government of Manila.

Data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) show that container traffic was down by 2.95 percent to 2.58 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the January to June period this year from 2.66 million in the same period last year.

Domestic container traffic dropped by 0.97 percent to 1.05 million TEU from 1.06 million last year, while foreign TEU fell by a faster 4.26 percent to 1.53 million from 1.6 million over the same period.

Exports and imports container traffic contracted by 4.51 percent and 4.01 percent, respectively.

Container traffic at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) dropped by 3.28 percent to 889,128 TEU this year from 924,525 TEU in 2013.

The number of container cargo at the Manila South Harbor also went down by 11.74 percent year-on-year to 59,939 TEU.

PPA blamed the decline in container traffic on the Manila City government’s daytime truck ban, which caused the congestion at the country’s main ports of entry. Imposed last February, the city government lifted the ban only last September 13.

Ship calls went down by 2.56 percent to 181,068 in the first half of the year from 185,630 last year. Both domestic and foreign ship calls decreased by 2.33 percent and 6.96 percent, respectively.

The number of passengers, however, grew by 3.65 percent to 30.49 million this year from 29.42 million last year.

Domestic passengers went up by 3.70 percent to 30.47 million, while foreign passengers declined by 38.7 percent to 23,069. –Darwin G. Amojelar, InterAksyon.com