PORT PERFORMANCE
CY 2005
 

The Philippine economy has shown a considerable resiliency despite the slowdown in the growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2005.  The resilient economy which repulsed a series of political uncertainties, rising oil price globally and weather shocks expanded by 5.1 percent buoyed by the 6.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter of the year, economic managers reported.  The report states that the growth in GDP was within the 4.8 to 5.1 percent revised forecast of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) but lower than the government’s original target of 5.3 to 6.3 percent and the actual 6.0 percent growth registered in 2004.  Meanwhile, the robust increase in inflows from abroad, mostly coming from our overseas-based Filipinos, pushed upward the Gross National Product to 5.7 percent increment. 

The economy regained the growth momentum that got derailed during the third quarter as the seasonally adjusted estimates of the Gross Domestic Product and the Gross National Product accelerated during the fourth quarter of 2005.  All major sectors contributed to the growth positively despite the persistent increases in oil and consumer prices and the political turmoil that continued to hound business and government.  The ever resilient Services Sector which contributed almost half of the total GDP continued to drive the economy, although at a slower pace.  This slowdown was likewise felt in the Philippine ports, a component of the water transport sub-sector under the Services Sector as port indicators; i.e., cargo throughput, container throughput, passenger traffic and ship traffic, showed depressed performances at the end of the twelve-month period in 2005.
 

CURRENT YEAR STATISTICS

   (January-December 2005)

Cargo Throughput (in million m. t.) -----------------------------  155.24

                                                                        Domestic -------------------------------------  79.41

                                                                        Foreign    -------------------------------------  75.83

                                                                                    Import  ------------  50.54

                                                                                    Export  ------------  25.29

                                                            Containerized Cargo (in million m. t.)  --------------------------   45.38

                                                                        Domestic  ------------------------------------  25.33

                                                                        Foreign     ------------------------------------  20.05

                                                                                    Import -------------  12.02

                                                                                    Export -------------    8.03

                                                            TEU Traffic  -------------------------------------------------------     3,710,064

                                                                        Domestic  ------------------------------  1,697,974

                                                                        Foreign     ------------------------------  2,012,090

                                                            Ship Traffic  -----------------------------------------------------------  319,764

                                                                        Domestic  --------------------------------   309,856

Foreign  -----------------------------------       9,908

Passenger Traffic (in millions)  ------------------------------------  48.65

                                                                        Disembarked  -------------------------------   24.73

                                                                        Embarked  -----------------------------------   23.92

CARGO TRAFFIC

Business activities in the country’s ports in 2005 could be characterized as sluggish as 12 PMOs plus the MICT registered decreases in their total cargo throughput, an indication that business was affected by high oil prices, weak agricultural output and political bickering.

By the end of December 2005, cargo throughput nationwide was pegged at 155.24 million metric tons down by 1.35 percent contributed largely by domestic cargo with a 4.26 percent decrease or 3.53 million metric tons lower than in 2004.  On the other hand, foreign cargoes registered a measly growth of almost 2 percent accounted to a 12.25 percent notable growth in export shipments covering up the decline in import shipments of 2.69 percent. Ten commodities that contributed largely to the expansion in exports with their growth volume are refined petroleum and products (0.65 million metric tons), other general cargo (0.51 million metric tons), iron and steel (0.41 million metric tons), crude minerals (0.32 million metric tons), fruits and vegetables (0.32 million metric tons), cement (0.24 million metric tons), metaliferous ores/scrap (0.19 million metric tons), coconut oil (0.139 million metric tons), mineral fuels (0.137 million metric tons) and animal feeds (0.06 million metric tons).

Among the Port District Offices,  PDO Manila/Northern Luzon garnered the highest in terms of foreign cargo volume at 37.64 million metric tons, followed by PDO Northern Mindanao with 15.17 million metric tons and PDO Southern Luzon with 13.39 million metric tons. Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) with 14.85 million metric tons emerged as the highest in foreign cargo volume. The next three were PMOs Batangas with 12.11 million metric tons, Cagayan de Oro with 12.08 million metric tons and Limay with 10.75 million metric tons in that order.  In term of volume expansion, MICT plus 12 other PMOs  achieved increments led by PMO North Harbor with 1.56 million metric tons appreciation followed by MICT at 0.46 million metric tons, Surigao at 0.45 million metric tons, Davao at 0.31 million metric tons and Iligan at 0.29 million metric tons.  Growth in foreign traffic at PMO North Harbor was attributed to the transfer of some shipping lines that used to call at PMO South Harbor arborto Harbor Center Terminal, Inc. (RII), a private port under the jurisdiction of PMO North Harbor.

Conversely, domestic cargo volume dropped at a faster rate of 4.26 percent or 3.53 million metric tons less than it’s year-ago level of 82.94 million metric tons.  By PDO,  contributors to this decline was topped by PDO Manila/Northern Luzon with 1.69 million metric tons contraction in volume, PDO Northern Mindanao with 0.76 million metric tons,  PDO Visayas with 0.72 million metric tons and PDO Southern Luzon with 0.22 million metric tons.  Only PDO Southern Mindanao recorded an acceleration of 0.53 million metric tons at the end of December 2005.

Volume-wise, PMO North Harbor still led all other PMOs with 13.19 million metric tons or 16.61 percent of the total domestic cargoes handled. PMO South Harbor trailed with 7.93 million metric tons followed by PMO Batangas with 7.47 million metric tons, PMO Limay with 6.76 million metric tons, PMO Cagayan de Oro with 5.56 million metric tons, PMO Pulupandan with 3.73 milliom metric tons, PMO Iloilo with 3.68 million metric tons, PMO Davao with 3.68 million metric tons, PMO Legazpi with 3.36 million metric tons and PMO Tacloban with 3.22 million metric tons.

 On a quarter-to-quarter basis, both foreign and domestic trades registered cargo volume decreases against their year-ago level.  It could be noted that from the start of the first quarter business has slowed down as shown by the following results except for the second and fourth quarter in foreign trading that showed positive increments.
 

CONVENTIONAL AND CONTAINERIZED CARGO
 
Cargoes passing thru the nation’s ports were classified by packing type; i.e., conventional or non-containerized and containerized. Conventional cargoes were further classified into two packing type such as bulk or loose and break-bulk or those packed either in units, cartons, crates, drums, sacks, etc.
 
Taking almost 71 percent of the overall cargo throughput for 2005, never in the past did containerized cargo overshadowed conventional cargo in terms of tonnage volume. However, its aggregate tonnage at the end of the year reaching 109.84 million metric tons decelerated from a strong upturn of 8.24 percent last year to a 4.11 percent dip or 4.71 million metric tons lower than the figure recorded in 2004. Of the total conventional cargo, bulk cargoes had the biggest share at 69.44 percent or 42.70 million metric tons more than break-bulk cargoes. Domestic bulk cargoes with a share of 27.62 million metric tons edged break-bulk ones which registered 26.43 million metric tons. In foreign trading, bulk cargo volume of 48.65 million metric tons again dominated break-bulk ones which reached a meager 7.14 million metric tons at the end of the year. This notable volume of bulk commodities could be attributed to large shipment of refined petroleum and products, metaliferous ores/scrap, mineral fuel, crude petroleum and crude minerals to mention the five top bulk commodities handled during the year.  

The five PMOs that handled large volume of conventional cargoes (domestic plus foreign, mostly bulk), were that of PDO Southern Luzon’s Batangas with 19.57 million metric tons ranking first, followed by PDO, Manila/Northern Luzon’s Limay with 17.48 million metric tons, PDO Northern Mindanao’s Cagayan de Oro with 14.91 million metric tons, PDO Manila/Northern Luzon‘s South Harbor and North Harbor with 6.16 million metric tons and 5.69 million metric tons, respectively.  Total non-containerized cargo of PDO Visaya’s Tacloban which ranked fourth in last year’s ranking was split into two by the creation of PMO Ormoc.
 
Meanwhile, containerized cargo (cargoes loaded in vans or containers) at 29.24 percent share of the total cargo throughput, continued its slow but steady growth reaching 45.40 million metric tons broken down into 24.94 million metric tons importation and 21.30 million metric tons exportation by the end of the year. This total volume rose by only 0.31million metric tons or about one (1) percent than last year’s figure of 45.08 million metric tons. This minimal growth could be attributed to the preference of some shippers to transport their products, via the SRNH (Strong Republic Nautical Highway) and availing of the RRTS (RORO Transport System) implemented by the government. At the close of the year, domestic containerized cargo was pegged at 25.33 million metric tons a little bit lower by 0.55 percent against the year-ago level of 25.47 million metric tons. Foreign containerized cargo, on the other hand, emerged slightly lower in volume at 20.04 million metric tons but exhibited positive growth of more than two (2) percent.
 
Except for PMOs Cotabato and San Fernando, the rest of the PMOs handled domestic containerized cargo while only seven PMOs catered to foreign ones. PMO North Harbor was on top in terms of domestic containerized cargo volume handled with 10.51 million metric tons in its inbound and outbound shipments. Far behind, but handled substantial volume likewise, were PMOs South Harbor with 3.34 million metric tons, Davao and Cagayan de Oro both with 2.39 million metric tons, and Iloilo with 1.22 million metric tons.
 
As in previous years, the Manila International Container Terminal remained on top in servicing foreign cargoes in containers. This year, containerized tonnage handled by the port reached 14.18 million metric tons that grew by a modest 3.09 percent, shared by both import and export shipments. Manila South Harbor came in second to MICT at 4.20 million metric tons making an improvement of only 2.52 percent this year which was contributed mostly by import shipments.  Likewise, Davao showed faster growth of 3.94 percent and 16.28 percent in import and export shipments, respectively. The rest registered decrements.  
 

CARGO BY TYPE OF PORT
 
Millions of tons of cargoes were serviced at the ports all over the archipelago this year. A portion of these cargoes passed through government ports (comprising of base ports, terminal ports and other government ports) while the other part were transferred through private ports (those operated/run by private companies/corporations).
 
Previous year’s figures showed that private ports always took the bigger share of the cargo pie, and was sustained again this year by handling almost 57 percent or 87.87 million metric tons, however it dipped by a minimal 0.45 percent. Foreign cargoes handled at the private ports peaked at 51.97 million metric tons and remained on top over domestic ones that reached 35.90 million metric tons at the end of 2005. Large volume of refined petroleum and products, metaliferous ores/scrap, mineral fuel, crude petroleum, crude minerals, fruits and vegetables, wheat, cement, chemicals and animal feeds composed mostly the import and export commodities that passed thru the private ports.  On the domestic side, refined petroleum and products got the biggest inbound and outbound shipments followed by transport equipment, crude minerals, crude petroleum, mineral fuel, other general cargo, cement, wheat, iron and steel and animal feeds.
 
Collectively, private ports under the jurisdiction of PMOs Batangas, Limay, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Ormoc and South Harbor arbor Harbor HHHmoved the biggest haul of almost 63 million metric tons of the combined domestic and foreign cargoes taking more than 72 percent of the aggregate tonnage serviced at the private ports.
 
Government ports, on the other hand, controlled the shipments of domestic cargoes at 43.50 million metric tons or more than 65 percent of the total government ports’ traffic of 69.37 million metric tons. In terms of domestic volume moved in and out of public ports, PMO North Harbor handled the biggest haul of 12.83 million metric tons or more than 29 percent of the total domestic throughput. A far second at 3.73 million metric tons was PMO South HarborarborHarbor followed by PMOs Cagayan de Oro at 3.15 million metric tons, Iloilo at 3.07 million metric tons, Legazpi at 2.98 million metric tons, Ozamiz at 2.28 million metric tons and Davao at 2.02 million metric tons.  All in all, these PMOs claimed about 45 percent or 30.06 million metric tons of government port’s domestic traffic. Concerning foreign volume, the bulk was confined to Manila International Container Terminal and Manila South Harbor with the combined tonnage of 20.61 million metric tons or more than 86 percent of the total throughput handled at government ports.
 
 

CONTAINER TRAFFIC
 
The International Standards Organization specified that standard-shipping containers should be 20 feet long by 8.5 feet square. One such standard unit for measuring container throughput is one (1) twenty foot equivalent unit or 1 TEU. A 40-footer container measures 40 feet long by 8.5 feet square and can be counted as equivalent to 2 TEUs. For use in calculating statistics, non-standard container sizes are calculated based on the 20-foot standard equivalent.
 
The use of containers in transporting goods by sea whether domestically or internationally continued to gain popularity among shippers as could be seen in the sustained growth in the number of vans or in the volume of TEUs handled for the last seven years which could be ascribed to economy, easy handling, bigger capacity and safety of goods being transported from one port to another. However, from January to December, this year, containers in Twenty Equivalent Units down-slid to only 3.71 million from 3.79 million in 2004.
 
Twenty Equivalent Units of Loaded and Empty containers at 2.81 million and 0.90 million, respectively have been moved in and out of the seaports.  This total gave a minimal decline of about 0.57 percent in the total number of containers for the entire year over the 2004 count of 3.79 million TEUs.  The slight decrease in container traffic was credited to the drop in both foreign and domestic TEUs particularly in the second semester of the year. Measuring by quarter, the spread started with slight gains in the first and second quarters contributed by foreign shipments but started to drop in the third quarter to the fourth quarter of the year.  Foreign TEU which comprised more than 54 percent of the total container traffic or 2.01 million TEUs was not able to cover the decline suffered by domestic TEUs that represented the remaining 1.70 million TEUs or 46 percent of the total TEU throughput.
 
Notwithstanding the business slowdown, PDO Manila remained as the uncontested top-lister among the PDOs in container performance by volume handled. The PDO generated a total of 2.66 million TEUs or roughly 72 percent of the total container traffic. Foreign container count was shared by both the Manila International Container Terminal and South Harbor Baseport with 1.21 million TEUs and 0.64 million TEUs, respectively. Likewise, PMO North Harbor stayed on top in the volume of domestic containers, hauling 0.58 million TEUs or about 34 percent of the total domestic TEU count.  However, it suffered a more than 13 percent decline this year which could be ascribed to the transfer of almost all WG & A vessels to Pier 15, South Harborar.
 
The slight growth in containerized cargo brought corresponding increment to the number of loaded container vans accommodated in the country’s ports. From January to December, 2.76 million FCL (or container loaded with commodities owned by a single consignee, covered by one bill of lading and destined for door-to-door delivery) and 0.04 million LCL (pertains to a container loaded with cargoes belonging to two or more consignees) Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) carried the hefty 45.40 million metric tons of containerized cargoes received and dispatched. These container boxes usually came in different sizes of 5-footer, 10-footer, 20-footer, 40-footer and 45-footer vans.
 
By port classification, total TEUs was distributed as follows:
 
 

SHIPPING TRAFFIC
 
The annual shipcall composed of a mixture of inter-island and international-going vessels reached 319,764 this year which is significantly below the level achieved in the previous years. This number represented a minimal decrease of 0.49 percent versus last year’s total which registered a notable 6.5 percent increase against the 2003 level.
 
The decrement in this year’s ship traffic is accounted mainly to the fluctuations in cargo and passenger movements directly affecting the frequency in both domestic and foreign vessel calls of 309,856 and 9,908 counts, diminishing by 0.47 percent and 1.11 percent, respectively.   As has been in the past years, coastwise ships outnumbered foreign ones in an extreme ratio of 93 percent to 7 percent.
 
Of the five Port District Offices, PDOs Manila/Northern Luzon, Southern Mindanao and Northern Mindanao contributed mainly to this negative growth with 13.29 percent, 5.26 percent and 1.89 percent contraction in that order. All PMOs under the jurisdiction of these PDOs manifested decrements except for PMOs Cagayan de Oro and Davao. On the contrary, PDOs Southern Luzon and Visayas apparently exhibited increments in their cumulative totals for the year.
 
By PDO distribution, PDO Visayas serviced the most number of inter-island shipcalls at 108,839 which registered shipcall upturn at PMOs Dumaguete and Tacloban,  PDO Southern Luzon came in second with berths occupied by 80,061 vessels led by PMO Batangas with 37,121 vessel calls at 47 percent share of the total PDO count. Sharing the rest in third, fourth and fifth places were PDOs Northern Mindanao with 55,418, Southern Mindanao with 49,313 and Manila/Northern Luzon with 25,813.
 
Visibly fewer in number, foreign shipcalls fall short by more than one (1) percent of the total in 2004. Outnumbered by coastwise ones, foreign vessel calls reached 9,908 at the close of the year. In terms of foreign vessel count, PDO Manila/Northern Luzon placed on top once more as the volume of shipcalls was concentrated at PMO South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal. About 54 percent or 5,309 of the total foreign shipcalls berthed and anchored during the period at the ports under its jurisdiction.  Far second was PDO Southern Mindanao at 2,152 with PMO Davao contributing about 79 percent of the total PDO count. Third was PDO Southern Luzon with 1,123 shipcalls, followed by PDO Northern Mindanao with 824 and last was PDO Visayas with 500 foreign shipcalls.
 
By port classification, base ports captured the biggest share of 34.92 percent or 111,646, followed by private ports with 26.19 percent, terminal ports with 24.03 percent and other government ports with 14.87 percent shares or 83,743, 76,829 and 47,546 ships serviced, respectively.
 
Gross Registered Tons and Length Overall. Contrary to the decrease in shipcalls, vessel tonnage of various types of vessels that frequented the ports; i.e., inter-island ferries and fast crafts, luxury passenger vessels, cargo-cum-passenger ships, container vessels, RO-RO and oil tankers grew negligibly posting only about one (1) percent against last year’s level. Domestic vessels which represented about 93 percent of the total vessel calls accounted for more than 65 percent share or 205.74 million tons of the cumulative domestic Gross Registered Tons (GRT) reflecting a 2.39 percent growth.  Apparently, average GRT of domestic vessels improved by 19 tons from 645 tons a year ago to 664 tons this year. Conversely, the average foreign vessel GRT slightly down-slid once again from 11,029 tons last year to 10,957 tons this year as its decrement grew to almost two (2) percent from the 110.50 million GRT to 108.56 million GRT, proof that smaller international liners called at the ports this time.
 
Similarly, total Length Overall (LOA) of vessels decline but minimally by almost one (1) percent. From 14.14 million meters of last year, it depreciated to 14.05 million meters this year. However, this measurement recorded an upturn on the averages per vessel listing of 44 meters from 41 meters average last year for domestic vessels while average length for foreign vessels remain as 130 meters.
 
Service Time. To achieve efficiency in port operations, every vessel that docked at the ports should stay at its facilities in the shortest possible time depending on the volume of cargoes to be discharged and loaded. This year, total service time accrued by the 319,764 vessels that berthed and anchored reached 6.54 million hours. This period, average service time for all the vessels that called in the country’s ports improved further to 20.46 hours this year from 23.19 hours in 2002,  22.52 hours in 2003 and 20.71 hours in 2004 proof that services in the country’s ports are getting better.
 

PASSENGER TRAFFIC
 
The entry of fast crafts for short distance travel and luxurious super-ferries with a speed of eighteen to twenty knots, as in the case of long-distance travel, gone are the days that a one way voyage of a vessel which used to be sailed for two hours (short distance) and twenty-four hours (long distance), nowadays could be reached for one hour (short distance) and 15 to 18 hours (long distance) only allowing ferrying of goods and people with ease.  However, the escalating oil and consumer prices experienced during the year visibly affected local businesses as the movement of people from one port to another diminished in number month on month of 2004 and 2005.
 
The diminishing trend in the number of people taking sea craft as a means of transport was evident in the decreasing growth rate recorded from year 2001 and came to a halt at the end of this year at 8.27 percent drop against last year’s growth of 2.55 percent.  From January to December, only 48.65 million people were serviced at the port’s passenger terminals compared to 53.04 million heads of the previous year.
 
 
By trade, domestic traffic took 99.96 percent or 48.63 million of the total passenger count. Foreign traffic for its share comprised a negligible portion of 0.04 percent or 0.02 million passengers, concentrated this year at Baseport Zamboanga accounting to more than 71 percent or 12,609 people, mostly traders coming from Sandakan, Malaysia and vice versa. The remaining 5,108 heads or 29 percent were tourists accommodated at Base ports South Harbor, Puerto Princesa and Tagbilaran, Bohol.  The drop was felt more in the number of inter-island passengers that declined by 8.27 percent while foreign passengers recorded a remarkable 21.08 percent growth. This downtrend in domestic passenger count could be attributed in part to the implementation of the 10 percent E-vat resulting to significant increases in boat fares all over the archipelago. Inversely, the return of the businessmen/traders from Sandakan, Malaysia gave the positive increment to foreign passenger traffic.
 
Disembarking and embarking passengers at 24.74 million and 23.92 million, respectively, passed through government and private ports nationwide. About 41.96 million or more than 86 percent were serviced at government ports shared by base-ports at 23.88 million or 56.91 percent, terminal ports at 12.86 million or 30.65 percent and other government ports at 5.22 million or 12.44 percent. Private ports, on the other hand, accommodated 6.69 million passengers or 13.75 percent of the total passenger throughput. Among the Port District Offices, Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Southern Mindanao accommodated passengers at the private ports. The following are the only PMOs that serviced passengers at the private ports: For PDO Visayas: Dumaguete, Iloilo, Ormoc, Pulupandan, and Tacloban; for PDO Northern Mindanao, only Iligan and for Southern Mindanao, only Zamboanga.
 
Moreover, the biggest volume of passengers was concentrated at PDO Visayas, which catered to 16.82 million people or about 35 percent. PDO Southern Luzon followed with 10.93 million or 22.47 percent of the total passenger traffic. Next was PDO Northern Mindanao with 10.10 million or 20.76 percent, PDO Southern Mindanao with 6.74 million or 13.85 percent and PDO Manila/Northern Luzon with 4.06 million or 8.35 percent.
 
By single port performance, the first five PMOs that registered the highest passenger count are as follows: