Asian Terminals to roll out cargo-handling equipment in South Harbor

PORT operator Asian Terminals Inc.  (ATI)  will spend for the expansion for its flagship port, the Manila South Harbor, this year as cargo volumes have almost reached its peak. Bryan T. Smith, the company’s chairman, said that they have earmarked P1.14 billion for capital expenditures this year, almost half of which will be spent for the expansion of its flagship terminal in Manila. The money will come from internally generated funds, Smith said. He said the company is planning to buy three new gantries on rubber tires and other cargo handling equipment, such as trucks and forklifts, that will replace its aging equipment. ATI is also servicing the Aboitiz group’s SuperFerry passengers at the Eva Macapagal Super Terminal.  “Most of the funds were for civil works and cargo handling equipment,” Smith told reporters in a briefing after the company’s annual stockholder’s meeting. Smith, however,  said that the company will only spend from its  2006 surplus. Last year’s capital expenditure was P283.6 million. According to the South Harbor Master Plan, Asian Terminals will have to roll out the necessary cargo handling equipment once the terminal, which can handle about 820,000 20-foot containers, reaches its peak. In 2006, the port handled 716,502 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up from the previous 643,469 TEUs. ATI reported a net income of P782.6 million in 2006, up 18 percent from  P663.6 million a year earlier. “With the strengthening of the Philippine peso versus the US dollar, improvement in results [of net income] was tempered by higher foreign exchange loss in 2006 of  P56.6 million against P19.9 million in 2005 and by its impact on certain revenue rates,” ATI said in its annual report. ATI, however, experienced mixed results in its South Harbor operations, wherein its international container volume was higher but its noncontainerized operations were down by almost 50 percent. Revenues from South Harbor domestic terminal operations decreased by 8 percent, even with increase in tariff rates, as cargo volumes were down by 12.5 percent and number of passengers were down by 15 percent due to a reduction in SuperFerry’s fleets and aggressive promotions from airlines. ATI’s total revenues for the year rose to P4.18 billion from P4.08 billion in the same comparable period. A third of the revenues comes from stevedoring services and another 35 percent from arrastre services. The company operates and manages South Harbor in Manila, a logistics business in Calamba City, Laguna and a bulk grain terminal in Mariveles, Bataan. Its subsidiaries also have port operations in Batangas, and in South Cotabato. --VG Cabuag

 

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