Saturday, March 04, 2006
Performance of Mindanao ports slacken in 2005
PEACE and order problems and the rising cost of fuel was blamed for the lackluster performance of Mindanao ports in the first six months of 2005, a report from the Mindanao Economic and Development Council revealed.
Slower economic activities were noted at the base ports of Mindanao brought about mainly by a slight increase in cargo volume of only 1.43 percent, or from 10,024,403 metric tons from January to June in 2004 to 10,167,715 for the same period last year.
"About 69 percent of these cargoes were largely domestic while foreign cargoes comprised only 31 percent," the economic indicator released recently said.
The commonly transported commodity items in Mindanao ports for the period include coconut oil, iron ore conglomerates, banana and fresh pineapple, which accounted for almost US$762 million in export sales.
The Davao base port still ranked the highest in terms of cargo traffic as it registered a total of 3.7 million metric tons.
It comprised 45 percent domestic and 55 percent foreign cargoes, contributing almost 37 percent to the total volume of cargoes in Mindanao.
Next to Davao was the base port of Cagayan de Oro, which contributed almost 16.6 percent or 1.62 million metric tons followed by Zamboanga at 12.13 percent or 1.2 million metric tons.
General Santos came in fifth, tied with the base port of Nasipit, at 7 percent cargo volume. The base ports of Surigao and Ozamis registered cargo volume of 9 percent.
For sea passenger traffic, Mindanao experienced a decrease of 7.92 percent, or 7.55 million passengers during the period compared to 8.20 million passengers in 2004, the economic report said.
"This may be attributed to the peace and order problem during the first quarter, that included the February 14 bombing in General Santos City last year, coupled with the escalating oil and consumer prices, which somewhat affected local businesses as the movement of people from one port to another gradually diminished," the report also stated.
Almost all of the base ports in Mindanao experienced a decline in the volume of sea passengers, the economic report said, adding, however, that despite the peace and order problem, there are still areas in Mindanao that showed positive performance specifically the Baseport of Nasipit and Iligan, which posted positive growths at 2.80 percent and 6.01 percent respectively.
The increase in the volume of passengers registered at the Baseport of Nasipit was attributed to the increased operation of the Masao and Butuan Ferry terminals and the addition of one passenger and cargo vessel by Go Thong Lines plying direct to Manila every Tuesday and Friday, which has started its operation in late 2004.
Likewise, the increase in the volume of passengers in Iligan base port was also attributed to the addition of two passenger and cargo vessels plying direct from Iligan to Siquijor and back to Iligan via Cebu City.
On the basis of single port performance, Zamboanga Baseport consistently ranked the highest in terms of passenger traffic, which contributed the biggest share at 32 percent or 2.4 million passengers to the total volume of sea passengers in Mindanao.
General Santos Baseport contributed the lowest number of passengers at one percent share.
Consistent with the downtrend performance of sea passengers, vessel traffic also registered a decrease of 5.41 percent for the first six months of 2005.
A total of 32,198 domestic and foreign vessels were served by Mindanao baseports wherein domestic vessels comprised most of the traffic at 31,179 vessels or 97 percent of the total number of shipcalls in Mindanao. (RBS)
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(February 27, 2006 issue)
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