The Philippine cargo traffic volume dropped 5 percent to 56.7 million metric tons (MMT) in the first quarter this year, from 59.4 MMT in the same period last year, according to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
PPA data showed that bulk of the cargo throughput in the first quarter came from foreign cargo, which also declined 5 percent to 31.3 MMT from 33 MMT a year ago.
Domestic cargo throughput was down by 3.4 percent to 25.4 MMT in first quarter, from 26.3 MMT last year.
Jay Daniel Santiago, PPA general manager, said the agency is expecting a slowdown in cargo shipment this year due to the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, despite government lifting restrictions on cargo shipments in the country.
Container traffic handled in January to March this year fell by 10.5 percent to 1.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), from 1.9 million TEUs the previous year.
Of the total, domestic container traffic stood at 728,767 TEUs in the first quarter, down 7 percent from 783,743 TEUs last year.
Foreign container traffic declined by 10 percent to 987,476 TEUs in the first quarter, from 1.1 million TEUs a year ago.
PPA also reported that sea passenger traffic three months into the year dropped 7.7 percent to 16.7 million, from 18.1 million in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the maritime sector joined the other transport sectors such as the road, railways and aviation in shifting to the “new normal” through digitalization of different transactions.
The move is in line with the safety precautionary measures prescribed by health authorities to contain the spread of the COVID-19. The measures include physical distancing or limiting direct human-to-human intervention.
In the maritime sector, the automated passenger ticketing system will soon be implemented. PPA will automate passenger ticketing in all its passenger terminals nationwide to avoid face-to-face ticketing transactions.
The pilot testing of the system started on March this year. It is targeted to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2020.
There will also be an integration of all payment platforms into one system covering all PPA terminals to limit face-to-face cargo transactions.
Further, a centralized vessel tracking and port surveillance system called the National Port Monitoring Center will be implemented. This will be used to monitor vessel and port activities as part of border control and protection.
