PPA sees sustained growth in cargo volume

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) sees continued cargo traffic growth this year after volume returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, raising its growth forecast amid optimism in the country’s economic recovery.

PPA general manager Jay Santiago told The STAR that a recovery in the maritime trade and shipping is expected to be sustained this year, with the agency now looking at a 7.5 percent growth in cargo volume.

PPA’s growth forecast last year for cargo volume for 2022 and 2023 was a conservative one to three percent.

While the agency was already expecting a recovery in cargo traffic last year, it had previously said that a return to pre-pandemic levels is not seen in the short-term.

However, cargo volume made its way back to pre-pandemic level in 2021 as economic activities were able to rebound from the effects of the pandemic.

Data from the PPA showed that cargo volume in 2021 reached 266.76 million metric tons (MMT), up 9.33 percent from the 243.99 MMT recorded the previous year.

The volume surpassed the PPA’s seven percent growth target for 2021 and was 0.13 percent higher than pre-pandemic level in 2019, which was at 266.42 MMT.

Domestic cargo, which accounted for 36 percent of the total cargo throughput in 2021, grew by 3.49 percent year-on-year to 96.86 MMT.

Foreign cargo, on the other hand, constituted 64 percent of total cargo volume and was able to recover despite the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, posting a 12.97 percent year-on-year jump to 169.90 MMT.

The PPA said that while the pandemic has had a significant impact on the global maritime industry, the country’s maritime transport sector stood resilient and showed remarkable recovery last year.

The reopening of domestic markets, gradual lifting of restrictions, such as those in the supply chain of essential goods and trade in general, as well as government stimulus packages, were cited as among the developments that led to the recovery in demand and positively influenced the country’s overall trade and shipping performance in 2021.

The PPA data showed that total port container volume also rose by 8.78 percent to 7.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year from 6.76 million TEUs in 2020.

But while cargo traffic has been seeing significant improvements, passenger volume, on the other hand, continued to dip.

PPA data showed that the number of passengers accommodated at the country’s ports dropped by 10.26 percent last year to 22.33 million from 24.89 million a year ago.

Last year’s passenger volume went further below pre-pandemic level in 2019, which stood at 83.72 million.

The PPA was also previously eyeing a recovery in passenger volume in 2021, with a 4.24 percent growth to 25.84 million, but the pandemic-induced restrictions prevented it from happening.

“The ongoing pandemic has led the national government and the local government units to issue restrictions on the entry and exit of various transportation modes,” the PPA said.

“Passenger transport was greatly affected due to strict community quarantine measures implemented for passengers to further mitigate the impact of COVID-19,” it said.