State-run Philippine Ports Authority said Thursday cargo volume grew 6 percent in the first quarter, amid strong international trade.
Data from PPA showed cargo throughput reached 50.1 million metric tons in the January-March period, up from 47.1 million MT in the same period last year.
Foreign cargo volume increased 7 percent to 27.2 million MT in the first quarter from 25.4 million MT last year.
Domestic cargo volume also expanded 5.5 percent to 22.9 MMT from 21.7 MMT.
PPA said bulk of the cargo volume came from Manila and North Luzon with 20.9 million MT, followed by Southern Luzon with 10 million MT, Visayas with 7.7 million MT and Northern and Southern Mindanao with 11.6 million MT.
Container traffic, however, fell 9.8 percent to 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units in the first quarter from 1.4 million TEUs a year earlier.
Passenger traffic increased 16.6 percent to 15.8 million from 13.2 million last year.
Ship calls went up by 15 percent to 104,094 in the first quarter from last year’s 90,448.