With sustained trade recovery amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) hit one-million-teu (twenty-foot equivalent units) at the end of the third quarter and hauled in P8.22 billion revenues for the first nine months of 2021, 3.2 percent higher than the same period last year due to higher cargo volumes, but net income was down 24 percent..

According to ATI, it net income plunged 24 percent to P1.5 billion due to volume-driven expenses, rising fuel price, sustained Covid-19 resiliency measures and unfavorable foreign exchange rate impact.

ATI’s international gateway ports in Manila handled over 810,000 TEUs while Batangas handled nearly 200,000 TEUs, indicating resilient growth since the pandemic disrupted global and local supply chains last year.

This represents a consolidated volume growth of 8 percent compared to end-September 2020.

Nevertheless, operational disruptions in major Asian transshipment hubs caused by spikes in Covid-19 incidents and governments pre-emptively locking down port facilities to curb infection rates tempered cargo flow during the 3rd quarter.

Disruptions in the major regional ports resulted in ship rerouting, anchorage queuing, terminal gridlocks and the subsequent delays in container and logistics cycles.

Despite this, ATI is optimistic of cargo increase for the remainder of the year driven by higher consumer confidence, robust demand during the holiday rush and inventory preparations by major industries, according to executive vice president William Khoury.

The recent easing of community restrictions would further open-up the economy, he noted.

“As of October, we have reached 100% vaccination rate for our employees. This further boosts ATI’s capacity and capability to handle more container volumes safely and efficiently as we keep in step with market recovery and fulfill our vital role in keeping cargoes flowing in the supply chain,” Khoury concluded.