State-run Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) yesterday reported a 15 percent growth in profit for the first 10 months of the year to P9.8 billion on higher volumes of cargo and vessel trips.
PPA said revenues grew by 30 percent to P21.06 billion from January to October this year, driven by higher cargo volume.
In October, the actual revenue stood at P2.25 billion, higher by 3.2 percent than the target revenue of P2.18 billion for the period.
In a statement, Jay Santiago, PPA general manager, thanked PPA employees for carrying out the management’s direction toward the efficient administration of expenses and streamlining the delivery of services to port users and stakeholders.
“The figures will speak for itself, in PPA we take our job seriously and we mean business.
These increasing figures are actually the fruits of the past years’ policy changes, planning, and strategic management,” said Santiago, who is on his second term at the helm of PPA after his re-appointment under the current administration.
Service and business income accounted for 41 percent or P8.70 billion of total revenues, regulatory income stood at 40.9 percent or P8.6 billion, while recorded interest and gains was at 17.9 percent.
PPA’s total expenses for the 10-month period rose by 46.4 percent or P3.6 billion compared to last year due to its high budget utilization for project implementation.
PPA said it is implementing a total of 74 locally funded projects as of October, with 36 ongoing projects in Luzon, 19 in Visayas and 19 in Mindanao.
This includes the construction of wharf with breakwater piles at the Port Management Office (PMO) of Northern Luzon, Capinpin Port, Orion, Bataan; expansion in PMO Bataan/Aurora; Banago Port, Bacolod development in PMO Negros Occidental; and construction of a cruise ship port in PMO Surigao.
Ports passenger volume also continues to catch up with pre-pandemic levels, posting an increase of 19 percent or 9.19 million passengers due to the resumption of domestic tourism, trade and regular travel activities.
With the revival of global tourism activity and the continued #PPAsyalTayo travel campaign of the agency, about 50,000 cruise passengers were recorded during the period.
More routes and vessel trips were also added at PMOs in Panay/Guimaras, Bohol and Negros Oriental/Siquijor.
Total ship calls grew by 11.6 percent, driven also by the increase in the number of domestic vessels.
“We believe this is a good sign and a great shift in gears. During this rebound of the economy from the effects of the pandemic, PPA has been very consistent in increasing our figures and completing quality projects. However, I believe we could have done better if we were able to adapt to the intended digitalization plans, but for now we follow the lead of DOTr (Department of Transportation) and will seek alternative digitalization options to optimize our operations,” added Santiago.
It can be recalled that in 2022, PPA was able to complete 69 projects and in the first half of 2023, a total of 30 seaport projects were completed.
