The container terminals managed and operated by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) at the Subic Bay Freeport are ready to facilitate trade between Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines with Evergreen Marine Corp. launching a new direct service at key ports of the three trading economies.
Evergreen, Taiwan’s largest shipping company, is launching its Korea-Taiwan-Philippines (KTP) service in Subic, adding the ICTSI-operated New Container Terminals 1 and 2 to its port rotation.
The inclusion of Subic in the rotation is expected to boost the growing markets in northern and central Luzon, which stand to benefit from the direct trade link to Korea and Taiwan. Aside from exports and imports, the service also offers transshipment for overseas cargo.
The KTP weekly service follows the following port rotation: Incheon and Kwangyang, South Korea; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Batangas, Manila, and Subic, Philippines; and back to Kaohsiung. The first Evergreen vessel under the KTP service is scheduled to make its maiden call to Subic on 19 April.
In December 2016, the Taiwan Maritime and Port Bureau (TMPB) expressed interest to partner with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to increase container transshipment traffic between the ports of Taiwan and Subic. TMPB raised the possibility of partnership during a recent port visit to Subic, which stemmed from SBMA’s participation in the 22nd Philippines-Taiwan Joint Economic Conference last October in Taipei.
The Philippines is capitalizing on Taiwan’s “Southbound Policy” which aims to strengthen trade and investment relationship between Taiwan and countries south of the latter’s territory. This “paradigm shift” opens the doors for the Philippines to capture businesses in Taiwan’s high-value manufacturing, innovation, logistics and transshipment, renewable energy, e-commerce, and financing sectors.
The SBMA has asked the TMPB to encourage industries in Taichung to utilize Subic as the regional gateway.
Taiwan is the Philippines’ sixth biggest trading partner, facilitating around US$ 7.85 billion worth of bilateral trade in 2015. Currently, the Subic Bay Freeport Zone hosts 52 Taiwanese companies with US$ 500 million worth of investments and over 12,000 jobs generated.
Meanwhile, South Korea is the Philippines’ fifth largest trading partner in 2015. In 2014, bilateral trade between the two countries reached US$ 13.4 billion, a number that is expected to reach US$ 20 billion over the next five years. This projection has triggered the increase of Korean investments in the Philippines in the recent years, with construction, cosmetics and food companies looking to invest.
Recently, SBMA has urged local government units around the Subic Freeport Zone to start developing industrial parks to accommodate the growing number of investors.
About ICTSI
Headquartered and established in 1988 in Manila, Philippines, International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) is in the business of port development, management and operations. As an independent business with no shipping, logistics or consignee-related interests, ICTSI works and transacts transparently with any stakeholder in the port community. ICTSI’s portfolio of terminals and projects spans developed and emerging market economies in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. ICTSI has received global acclaim for its public-private partnerships with governments divesting of their port assets to the private sector.
About SBITC
In 2007, under the Subic Port Development Project, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) awarded ICTSI subsidiary Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) the concession for the New Container Terminal (NCT) 1, with commercial operations commencing in 2008. In 2011, under the Subic Port Project’s second phase, SBMA awarded ICTSI Subic, Inc. the concession to operate NCT 2. Increasing volumes at the Subic Bay Freeport enabled ICTSI to streamline and interface the operations of NCT 1 and 2. The merged operation is ready to serve an improving local economy in Central and Northern Luzon regions, alongside with its continued support to facilitate the box market of Metro Manila.