Philippine Ports Authority net income up 9% in 1H 2022

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) continues to rebound from the effects of the global pandemic as net income increased by 9% in the first six months of the year, according to PPA’s release.

The agency’s net income is now only 13% down compared to the pre-pandemic figure. PPA‘s net income declined by as much as 50% during the onslaught of COVID-19 in 2020.

Data from the PPA showed that net income for the period in review reached P5.024 billion from P4.611 billion registered in 2021. Against the target of P4.056 billion, the actual figure is 24% higher.

Gross revenues, on the other hand, soared 14.28% to P9.438 billion for the period versus the P8.258 billion recorded in 2021. Expenses, meanwhile, went up 14% to P4.413 billion from P3.646 billion in 2021.

Almost all revenue streams of the PPA posted a positive deviation for the January to June 2022 period wherein the highest revenue increase came from concession fees and other income posting a 552% hike followed by storage fees that increased 55%, and domestic dockage that went up by 28%. Revenues from Lay-up operations and interest incomes suffered the biggest setbacks for the period declining by 93% and 87%, respectively.

The PPA is averaging a 9% increase in its revenues at least in the last 18 months, which is a steady pace moving toward pre-pandemic levels.

PPA is also bent on further improving its operations based on the earlier pronouncements made by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., and the Transport Secretary Jaime J. Bautista. Initially, the agency is targeting those low-hanging fruits and slowly expands from there.

Earlier, PPA reported that total cargo throughput went down 1.46% to 125.485 million metric tons (MMT) from 127.343 MMT in the same period last year. Export volume posted the most significant decrease of 14.4% dragging the total foreign cargo volume by 5.5%.

In terms of containerized cargo traffic, a 2.66% hike was recorded to reach 3.733 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) anchored on the 6.14% increase posted by imported boxed cargoes. Domestic box volume, meanwhile, declined by 1.83% to 1.413 million TEUs.

Passenger volume again posted a 144% increase with the resumption of domestic tourism, trade, and regular travel activities earlier this year.