THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) handled 10.50% more cargoes in the first quarter mainly driven by foreign cargo imports.
According to PPA’s preliminary data, ports within PPA’s jurisdiction handled a total of 65.77 million metric tons in the January-to-March period, marking an increase of 10.50% from the 59.52 million metric tons in the same period last year.
Broken down, domestic cargo throughput totaled 28.28 million metric tons, while PPA logged foreign cargo throughput at 37.49 million metric tons driven by imports at 26.77 million metric tons and exports at 10.71 million metric tons.
In terms of container traffic, PPA ports serviced a total of 2.04 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up by 13.31% from the 1.80 million TEUs in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, passenger traffic declined by 2.29% in the first three months to 18.42 million from 18.85 million in 2024.
For this year, PPA expects cargo throughput to reach 301.47 million metric tons while passenger volume is projected to grow by 9.5% to 85.41 million by the end of 2025. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
