SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – More ships are expected to call on the port of Subic with the opening of the first Container Freight Station (CFS) that caters the Central Luzon market.
This, as the Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC), in partnership with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Bureau of Customs Subic (BOC-Subic) inaugurated early this week the newly-built CFS located at SBITC’s New Container Terminal at the Port of Subic.
SBMA Chairman Martin B. Diño stressed the importance of the CFS in this port as this will boost more trade in the region. “This new facility will definitely encourage our importers and exporters in Central Luzon to regularly ship their cargoes through the port of Subic,” Diño said.
In the meantime, SBITC President Roberto R. Locsin thanked the SBMA and the BOC for supporting the completion of the CFS, adding that the project is clearly a good example of an effective public-private partnership. “We are one with SBMA in ensuring the growth of businesses inside the Freeport, particularly in the shipping business,” Mr. Locsin said.
Subic Bay’s CFS will be utilized to consolidate into, or de-consolidate goods from containers for transport to their next destination for Less-than-Container Load (LCL) shipments.
With eight loading bays capable of stripping and stuffing eight containers simultaneously, the facility has an initial storage space of 840 square meters, expandable up to 1,860 square meters. It also features state-of-the-art equipment and a 24-hour CCTV system.
SBITC has tapped ECU Worldwide (through ECU-Line Philippines, Inc.), one of the country’s top consolidators, to cater to exporters and importers’ LCL requirements.
SBITC is a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), which is engaged in port operation, management, and development. ICTSI’s portfolio of terminals and projects spans developed and emerging market economies in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. -Mhike Cigaral