International Container Terminal Services Inc. said on Tuesday it secured an approval from state-run Philippine Ports Authority to raise tariffs at the Manila International Container Terminal starting on December 28.
The country’s biggest port operator said it was informed by PPA that adjustments to the existing schedule tariffs at MICT had been approved under Memorandum Circular No. 14-2015 it issued on November 26.
The PPA also approved the increase in charges at South Harbor operated by Asian Terminal Inc.
The two port operators are now allowed to increase their vessel and cargo charges and other related handling charges for foreign containerized and non-containerized cages by 8 percent.
PPA said it “may increase or decrease rate and charges for the use of port premises and for services rendered by the Authority or by any private organization within a Port District.”
ICTSI earlier reported a net income of $143.7 million in the first nine months of the year from $142.3 million last year, on the back of strong international and domestic trade.
The port operator owned by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. said gross revenues from port operations amounted to $792 million in the January-to-September period, up 2 percent from $779.2 million year-on-year.
ICTSI attributed the revenue increase mainly to volume growth at most of the company’s terminals and favorable volume mix and higher ancillary services at Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. in Subic Bay.
The port operator handled consolidated volume of 5.77 million twenty-foot equivalent units in the first nine months of the year, 7 percent more than 5.41 million TEUs handled in the same period in 2014.
The higher volume was mainly due to the increased container traffic at Contecon Manzanillo S.A. in Manzanillo, Mexicop; Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana S.A. de C.V. in Puerto Cortez, Honduras; Pakistan International Container Terminal in Karachi, Pakistan; Yantai International Container Terminal in Yantai, China; and the company’s new terminal, ICTSI Iraq in Basra, Iraq.
The company’s eight key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, China, Ecuador, Pakistan and Honduras, which accounted for 77 percent of the group’s consolidated volume in the first nine months of 2015, grew five percent compared a year ago.
ICTSI’s capital expenditures amounted to $254.6 million in the first nine months, about 48 percent of the $530-million capex budget for the full year 2015.
“The established budget is mainly allocated for the completion of development at the company’s new container terminals in Mexico, Honduras and Iraq, capacity expansion in its terminal operation in Manila, and to start the development of the new terminals in Democratic Republic of Congo and Australia,” ICTSI said.