MANILA, Philippines — Sinisian Lemery Batangas Port and Industrial Park Corp. (SLBPIP) is spending over P3 billion for a port development and industrial complex including a cement silo and oil storage facility in Lemery, Batangas.
In a statement, SLBPIP said the seven-hectare complex has three major components: the Sinisian Lemery Batangas Port and Industrial Park, the Lemery Cement Silo Tank and Lemery Oil Terminal.
SLBPIP president Ferdinand Co said the investment for each project component costs more than P1 billion.
The port, which has a draft depth of 15 meters, can handle Panamax size oil tankers and cargo ships.
As for the cement silo, it can accommodate 60,000 metric tons of bulk cement and slag.
Meanwhile, the oil terminal has a storage capacity of over 170 million liters.
Sinisian Lemery Port general manager Jenifer Halili said the port is already in operation, while the cement silo will have partial operations in the third quarter of this year and be fully operational by the first quarter of 2025.
As for the Lemery Oil Terminal, Co said this is expected to have full commercial operations by January next year.
Co, whose family business is largely into cement and other construction supply trading, said the decision to expand into industrial storage facilities is intended to help address the global supply chain disruptions experienced during the pandemic, which also affected domestic industries.
While the pandemic is over, ongoing geopolitical tensions are posing challenges to global supply chains.
As the government is pushing for infrastructure development, the company also sees the need to have enough cement and slag supply.
“We should be ready to provide enough and high quality cement and slag supply to the Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) area,” Co said.
“Our cement silo facility should help ensure the availability of a major construction material,” he said.
The oil terminal, meanwhile, is seen to help ensure fuel security in the country.
“After we experienced a setback during the pandemic, the oil storage and distribution facility will be essential to increase the fuel inventory or security, support the increase in demand and improve logistics particularly for NCR (National Capital Region), Calabarzon and Southern Luzon,” Co said.