Ports report increased passenger, cargo volumes in third quarter 

THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said on Wednesday that passenger and cargo volumes rose sharply in the third quarter as pandemic restrictions were relaxed.

The PPA said in a statement that passenger volume for the period rose 233.54% from a year earlier to 15.71 million passengers as mobility improved with the waning of the coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, container traffic rose 9.7% year on year to 2.03 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

The PPA said domestic container volume rose 9.47% year on year to 759,884 TEUs.

Foreign containers rose 10.4% year on year to 1.27 million TEUs.

The PPA booked net income for the nine months to September of P7.16 billion, it said, off revenue of P14.86 billion.

In its financial report for the third quarter of 2021, the PPA said net income was P6.2 billion and revenue P12.82 billion.

Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista has said that the port regulator is pursuing further upgrades to its operations.

“Initially, the agency is targeting those low-hanging fruit and slowly working from there,” the PPA said in a statement. — Arjay L. Balinbin