President Aquino yesterday formally inaugurated a $200-million port facility of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc., which would expand the services of the Manila International Container Terminal by 12 hectares of additional storage space and 300 meters of additional port area, Business Insight reports.
The President, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, Philippine Ports Authority general manager Juan Sta. Ana, and ICTSI president Enrique Razon Jr., led the pouring of champagne on the facility’s marker to formally open ICTSI’s Berth 6’s operations.
The operation of Berth 6 will expand MICT operations and services from 1.9 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a measure used for capacity in container transportation, to 2.5 million TEUs.
This means MICT now has 1,600 meters of berth which can accommodate five to seven container vessels at one time.
Apart from Berth 6, MICT also upgraded its container handling equipment and now include 12 quay cranes and 45 rubber tired gantries.
Razon said ICTSI remains upbeat on the Philippines’ bullishness due to the good economic performance of the country despite the global downtrend affecting bigger economies.
He said the country is attracting more international trade, as evidenced by the increased volume of container traffic in the MICT.
As this developed, Roxas said the implementing rules and regulations of Executive Order No. 75, which designated the transportation department as the agency responsible for oversight in the implementation of the 1978 International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for seafarers, will come out by Friday.
Roxas said the IRR aims to strengthen the training and certification process and ensure the credibility and quality of Filipino seafarers deployed.
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