Bigger Batangas Port enables faster trade in Calabarzon

August 07, 2019

The expanded Batangas Container Terminal (BCT), which listed Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) unveiled in April, has continuously fast-tracked the movement of goods in the Southern Luzon growth corridor while simultaneously easing traffic along metro roads.

From January to June, BCT handled a record throughput of over 160,000 teus (twenty-foot equivalent units) of foreign container boxes, representing a volume growth of over 45 percent compared to the same period in 2018. This sets BCT on track of surpassing its full year throughput of nearly 250,000 teus in 2018.

BCT’s first semester cargo volume meant reducing over 80,000 truck trips along Metro Manila roads, with more consignees directly routing shipment via South Luzon’s preferred international gateway port.

Containerized cargoes handled by BCT are mostly destined to or originate from Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), considered Southern Luzon’s growth corridor which hosts the hubs of multinational corporations and major economic locators.

The volume growth was also attributed to bigger ships and higher trip frequency deployed by major international shipping lines to BCT. From seven, 11 weekly carrier services now cater to BCT which directly connect goods from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam,Indonesia, Thailand and other key regional and global trade hubs to Calabarzon consignees.

Last April, ATI unveiled a bigger and better Batangas Container Terminal in ceremonies witnessed by the country’s top economic managers led by Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Transport secretary Arthur Tugade along with representatives from global trade enabler DP World, ATI’s foreign equity partner.

As part of its investment commitment with the Philippine Ports Authority, ATI infused around Php2.5 billion in BCT to expand its berth, double its container handling equipment and further increase its container storage capacity which now stands at around 500,000 teus annually.

At present, port operations at BCT is supported by four quay cranes, eight rubber-tired gantry cranes, reachstackers, sideloaders, internal transfer vehicles and other cargo handling equipment, which enable quicker vessel and truck turnaround time.

With these investments, BCT can ably handle two container vessels at anyone time, while consignees could pull out containers from the port within 45 minutes from truck entry.