The approval is certainly a strategic move by the Filipino government. The congestion problems have started to ease ever since President Benigno Aquino III was forced to convene a cabinet cluster to try to find a solution to the problem.
Since the Manila truck ban was relaxed to try and speed up the process of getting boxes away, The Philippines Ports Authority (PPA) said that ICTSI, which operates MICT at Manila, has shipped around 3,000 overstaying containers out of Manila to Subic to provide further space for laden cargoes.
ICTSI said that since then there has been a rise in 40% in cargo movements and that in anticipation of a further surge in trade, it’s fast tracking the expansion work at MICT along with a new 21 hectare inland container terminal (ICD) at Laguna. Development of the new ICD will begin in November.
Christian R Gonzalez, ICTSI head for Asia Pacific and the Sub Continent said that even in its earliest stages of development, the new ICD alone will add new, laden, empty and warehousing capacity to the market and will deliver a further 250,000 teu capacity to MICT.
He told PS: “The ICD will be operational in stages, and will be the largest and only world class ICD in the Philippines with not only top level equipment but also a full fledged terminal operating system. The first stage will go live in February, and will be six hectares for laden containers with a container freight station and full administration building. Another eight hectares will come online in the second quarter of 2015 for empty containers and another six hectares for laden containers before the 2015 peak season. This is going to be purely complementary to MICT’s yard development.”
The new Berth 7 at MICT meanwhile will be linked to the new ICD by rail as well as road to ensure the seamless transfer of boxes from Manila to economic zones south of Metro Manila.
ICTSI said that without any further changes to the road network or truck restrictions the completion of the two yards will raise the overall capacity of the two ports at Manila to 4.2m teu.
Further, these new developments will be complimented by ICTSI’s plan to raise the capacity of its Subic terminal to establish it as Northern and Central Luzon’s next gateway port, rather than just a spillover terminal for cargo from Manila.