Port operator ICTSI to build new yard facilities in Manila and Laguna

Razon-led International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) will construct new yard facilities to increase yard capacity in Manila and in Laguna.

 

In an emailed statement, the company said a new yard facility in the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and a new 21-hectare inland container depot in Laguna “will jointly add more than 20 percent to the existing static yard capacity without impacting traffic patterns.”

 

“The completion of these new yards will raise the overall capacity of Manila’s two international ports to 4.2 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs),” the statement read.

 

Asian Terminal Inc.’s South Harbor, according to ICTSI, has a declared capacity of 1.2 million TEUs.

 

ICTSI head for Asia Pacific and the Sub Continent Christian R. Gonzalez said the 20-hectare depot in Laguna will deliver a further 250,000 TEU capacity to MICT.

 

The company will begin with the first phase of development in November and the facility is expected to be in operation by February next year.

 

The new MICT yard will have a minimum of six rubber tired gantries, which the company also plans to purchase for the Laguna depot.

 

ICSTI said a temporary empty handling area in MICT will be in operation by Nov. 1, 2014 while construction is still on-going.

 

The company said it will be “incorporating rail provisions” into the new MICT yard to link it to Laguna depot by road, and eventually by rail.

 

ICTSI said it also plans to increase the capacity of its Subic terminals to be established as Northern and Central Luzon’s next gateway port.

 

A study has noted that investments in the port operators have enabled port capacity “to keep pace with growth in trade,” the company claimed in the statement.

 

The Port and Road Infrastructure for Greater Luzon study also noted that capacity utilization of MICT and South Harbor without hindrance to road regulation is still below 80 percent.

 

The overall available international container terminal capacity in Manila, according to the study, is 3.7 million TEUs per year against a throughput of just over 2.7 million TEUs in 2013, “highlighting that timely investment by the private sector has kept the demand-supply ratio well in balance.” – Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza/VS, GMA News