International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI)-operated Subic Bay Freeport container terminals welcomed Cape Fulmar, a chartered vessel to Evergreen Marine Corp.’s new South Korea-Taiwan-Philippines (KTP) Service, signaling the start of the new Intra-Asian trade route in the Freeport, the company said in its press release.
Evergreen, Taiwan’s largest shipping company, launched KTP to boost regional trade between the three trading economies, plying the ports of Incheon and Kwang Yang, South Korea; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Batangas, Manila, and Subic Bay, Philippines; and back to Kaohsiung.
New Container Terminals 1 and 2 serviced the 1,440-TEU capacity Cape Fulmar’s inaugural call in Subic last 19 April, marking the launch of the KTP service in the Philippines. Around 400 TEUs were jointly serviced by ICTSI subsidiaries Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) and ICTSI Subic, Inc. on 19 April.
Cape Fulmar is one two vessels deployed in the KTP weekly service. The other vessel is the 1,440 TEU-capacity Cape Faro.
Taiwan and South Korea are among the Philippines’ major trading partners. 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.
South Korea, on the other hand, 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 recent years, with construction, cosmetics and food companies looking to invest in the country.