The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is
expecting a stronger position in regional seaborne trade this year following
the maiden port call here last Wednesday of the shipping giant Mediterranean
Shipping Company (MSC), as well as the revived port visit of the Taiwanese
shipping line Wan Hai.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said
the weekly port calls here of MSC, the world’s largest shipping company in terms
of capacity, will further boost Subic’s trade capacity, which already generated
US$1.58 billion in imports and US$1.03 billion in exports last year.
“My dream for the Subic Bay Freeport is for it to be among
the top 50 biggest ports like Shanghai or Singapore. The fact that MSC, which
is now the world’s largest container shipping line, chose Subic to be in its
trade route not only gives Subic access to the world and vice versa, but also brings
us one more step closer to that goal,” Eisma said.
She added that this year, the SBMA aims to generate an
import value of US$1.77 billion and export value of US$1.42 billion, as the
global economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic begin easing down.
MSC, which operates in all major ports in the world,
began its Subic schedule to expand its Seahorse Service loop in Southeast Asia
with the voyage of the MSC Sotiria III to Subic on Feb. 23. The 2,475-TEU
container ship arrived at Subic’s New Container Terminal after a swing to the
port of Manila on Feb. 21.
The maiden port call was attended by MSC general
manager Pankaj Patki, SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Operations Ronnie
Yambao, Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) CEO Justin C. Tolentino,
and representatives of various shipping and logistics agencies and clientele.
Patki said the MSC Seahorse Service trade loop will call
on Subic on a weekly basis with three container ships on rotation to provide
comprehensive port coverage within Asia.
“MSC feels that there is a huge potential for growth, and
we would like to cater to customers in this region who currently have had to
travel all the way to Manila to load their cargoes,” Patki said, adding that
more ship calls in Subic will be established in the near future.
The MSC Seahorse Service trade loop includes Tanjung
Pelepas, Singapore, Manila, Subic, Kaohsiung, Vung Tau and then back to Tanjung
Pelepas. Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia both serve as major transshipment
hubs for the Swiss shipping line and connect the rest of the Asian trade loop
to Western and European trade services.
SBMA’s Yambao, meanwhile, pointed out that MSC is the
25th shipping line to service the port of Subic.
“This is an important milestone for Subic Bay and the
shipping industry in general because it is an opportunity for the Freeport to
be known globally in terms of logistics capability,” he said.
Yambao added the MSC is expected to service the needs
of business locators not only in Subic, but also in Clark, Bataan and the rest
of the economic zones in north Luzon.
MSC’s arrival came after the return of Wan Hai Lines,
a Taiwanese company which previously cancelled its port rotation here due to
the Covid-19 pandemic. It recently reopened its Subic Express Service (SES)
route that includes Shekou, Subic, Batangas, Manila, Cebu, Taichung, Kaohsiung,
and Hong Kong.
The port of Subic currently has a container cargo
capacity to 600,000 TEUs and also caters to different types of cargo like
grain, dry bulk, and oil and petroleum.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) 2021 report indicated the “predominance of Asia as a leading maritime
freight area.” It said that in 2020, Asian ports loaded around 4.4 billion tons
of goods, or over 41.3% of total goods loaded in ports worldwide, and received
7.0 billion tons, or 65.5% of total goods discharged worldwide. (MPD-SBMA)
