ICTSI bags deal to operate new terminal in Subic port

MANILA, Philippines - Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) was finally awarded the right to operate the New Container Terminal-2, the second phase of the $215-million Subic port modernization.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI said it was informed by the Legal Department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority that the SBMA Board has approved to award the contract in ICTSI’s favor.

The port development project is co-funded by the Japanese government through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

ICTSI was deemed the sole qualified bidder for the contract to operate the new terminal project during last year’s bidding.

NCT-2 is being positioned as a transshipment hub for shipping lines and has an annual cargo-handling capacity of 300,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which can be expanded to 600,000 TEUs.

The project has the potential of generating annual revenues of $6 million, including wharfage fees.

The SBMA expects NCT-2 to further boost its break-bulk business that has been growing by about 40 percent annually in the past three years prior to the global financial crisis in 2009. The government has invested $80 million in NCT-2.

NCT-2 has 14 hectares of newly-constructed container yard, a 280-meter long newly-constructed wharf, two units of 53-ton quay gantry cranes, as well as buildings, equipment and utilities within the area.

At present, the Subic port has remained underutilized with volume of between 60,000 to 70,000 TEUs because cargoes from Central Luzon are still being shipped through the Manila ports.

The completion of the two port terminals is expected to boost Subic’s bid to become a major player in the containerized and non-containerized cargo handling business in the entire Asia-Pacific region.