ICTSI ramps up Subic port capacity

MANILA, Philippines — Razon-led International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has ramped up the capacity of its Subic port to speed up the turnaround time of logistics and trade activities in Central Luzon.

ICTSI subsidiary Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) yesterday said it would deploy an additional four rubber tired gantries (RTG) to bolster its landside operations in support of the growth prospects in Central Luzon.

Port managers like SBITC use RTGs to load and unload containers from vessels, moving them into trailers or stacking them up in blocks, slots and rows.

The RTGs that SBITC procured are scheduled to arrive in the last week of September. The units will raise the existing fleet of ICTSI’s Subic terminal to six, enabling SBITC to expedite truck and vessel turnaround times for increased cargo flow.

With improved efficiency, ICTSI expects SBITC to stay ahead of the demand curve. Further, the RTGs will also make sure the Subic port can serve the spike in cargo shipments, especially during peak seasons like Christmas.

When SBITC began using RTGs in 2019, the port operator saw a decrease in the dwell times of trucks and vessels rolling up at the Subic terminal.

Also, SBITC managed to enhance the utilization of the Subic yard and elevate static capacity by 42 percent through the use of the RTGs.

“The additional RTGs will enable SBITC to further improve service offerings to stakeholders and raise the industry standard in the region,” ICTSI said.

With a yearly capacity of 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, SBITC serves as the regional gateway to the northern and central sections of Luzon. Similarly, SBITC provides the logistic and trade needs of locators operating in economic zones such as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and Clark Economic Zone.

In 2007 the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority awarded SBITC the concession to operate the New Container Terminal (NCT) 1. In 2011, ICTSI also received the concession for NCT 2.

The increasing volume of port activities at the Subic yard enabled ICTSI to interface and merge the operations of NCT 1 and 2.

For the year, ICTSI doubled its capital expenditures to $330 million, from $165 million in 2021, to finance the delivery of port expansion and modernization here and abroad.