Subic Bay International Terminals (SBITC) has become part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company’s expanded Seahorse Service, linking Northern and Central Luzon industries to markets in Europe and the United States.
Now, local businesses in agriculture, automotive, electronics, construction and garments can ship their products worldwide, taking advantage of the service’s connection to major transshipment hubs like Singapore, Vung Tau and Tanjung Pelepas, as well as MSC’s global ocean liner network.
In addition to its comprehensive coverage of Asian ports, the Seahorse service also establishes an improved connection between Subic and Singapore, which speeds up shipments of dry and reefer imports by MSC from Europe, United States, Canada, South America and other MSC long-haul markets.
Aside from making regular calls in Subic, the updated service also calls North Port in Manila, which was already part of the previous port rotation.
The updated rotation covers Tanjung Pelepas – Singapore – Manila – Subic – Kaohsiung – Vung Tau – Tanjung Pelepas.
MSC is the largest container line in terms of capacity.
The Swiss-Italian maritime giant sails on more than 230 trade routes and calls over 500 ports, with access to an integrated network of road, rail and sea transport resources worldwide.
SBITC facilitated the maiden call of the 2475 TEU-capacity MSC Sotiria III – one of the vessels operating MSC’s expanded Seahorse service
In 2007, under the Subic Port Development Project, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) awarded ICTSI subsidiary Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) the concession for the New Container Terminal (NCT) 1, with commercial operations commencing in 2008.
In 2011, under the Subic Port Project’s second phase, SBMA awarded ICTSI Subic, Inc. the concession to operate NCT 2.
Increasing volumes at the Subic Bay Freeport enabled ICTSI to streamline and interface the operations of NCT 1 and 2.
The merged operations are ready to serve an improving local economy in Central and Northern Luzon regions, alongside with its continued support to facilitate the box market of Metro Manila.