The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) today (Aug 18) warned of delays in the delivery of cargo with the partial closure of several ports in China due to COVID-19.
PPA urged Philippine-based importers and exporters to make necessary operational adjustments to reduce the negative impact of the impending delays in their daily operations.
Already, in the past two weeks, several transshipment ports under the territories of China have slowed down operations due COVID-19.
The Ningbo Port, the world’s third largest container port, continues to shut one of its terminals for the 7th straight day as of yesterday, due to the virus, particularly the Delta variant.
Other major ports in the region are reporting congestion due to the lingering effects of the pandemic.
Majority of Philippine imports and exports pass through these trans-shipment ports as the country remains a feeder economy.
“We need to prepare. Eventually, the delays in cargo shipments will catch up with us due to the congestion being experienced in these transshipment ports,” warned PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago.
“We encourage all importers and exporters to adjust and secure their operations to mitigate the impact of the slowdowns or partial closures of the big ports in their overall operations,” he stressed.
The Philippine major port gateways, meanwhile, are currently operating under optimum condition and way below the threshold level of utilization set at 75%.
The Manila ports, composed of the Manila International Container Terminal and the Manila South Harbor are operating under normal conditions.
These two ports handle 85% of the country’s foreign trade volume.
They have an average utilization rate of 68% and 56%, and berth utilization rate of 59% and 56%, respectively.
Both ports have an average per crane productivity rate of 25 moves an hour.
In terms of daily cargoes passing through the ports, an average of 12,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of foreign cargoes are being handled at the ports.
“PPA assures the shippers that Philippine ports can handle the bulk of the delayed shipments when condition at the transshipment ports start to normalize,” Santiago declared.