MANILA North Harbour Port, Inc. (MNHPI) is looking to process more cargoes this year with more container traffic amid increased efficiency following efforts to modernize and eased port congestion.

In a statement, the joint venture firm of diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and Romero-owned port operator Harbour Centre Port Terminal, Inc. (HCPTI), said the port is expected to close the year with 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), an increase in container traffic from last year's 1,115,577 TEUs. Faster turnaround time on cargo vessels is made possible as MNHPI continues to install new equipment such as ship-to-shore quay container cranes and rubber-tyred gantry cranes and setting up of its new corporate offices, two operations centers which consolidate the offices of resident shipping lines into a one-stop shop and no port congestion, MNHPI said in its statement.

Contributing much to the improvement of the 52-hectare port facility is also its adoption of an advanced terminal operating system, known as N4, to make transactions more efficient for clients, it added. The port also yielded record turnaround rates for vessels that led to its consistent achievement of a throughput of over 100,000 TEUs for six consecutive months in 2016.

MNHPI noted that its new portal also allowed its clients to check the status of their cargo anytime. The massive modernization program for the port also resulted in the establishment of the new North Port Passenger Terminal Complex which provides utmost safety, security, and comfort to as many as 2,000 passengers at any given time.

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) reported last month that container traffic registered a 9.36% increase in volume for the nine months with 4.684 million TEUs compared to the 4.283 million TEUs processed in the same period last year which it attributed to the growing economy and the rush to have goods in stores by Christmas.

PPA earlier said foreign boxes dominated the containerized traffic in the nine months of 2016 after posting an 11.51% hike with volume reaching 2.869 million TEUs as compared to the 2.573 million TEUs handled in 2015, while domestic cargoes reached 1.814 million TEUs or 6.12% higher than the 4.283 million TEUs posted last year.(Source: BusinessWorld)