PPA reports P16.34B in Jan-June revenues

THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) posted P16.34 billion in revenues in the first half of the year, driven by higher cargo and container traffic, and increased cruise ship calls.January-to-June gross revenue was 11.31 percent higher than the P14.68 billion in the same period last year. It also exceeded the PPA's H1 target by 7.61 percent or P1.16 billion.PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago attributed the performance to stronger port operations, infrastructure modernization, and revenue optimization as the government continues to expand the country's transport infrastructure."[It] shows that the investments and reforms we have been pursuing across the port system are translating into real results," Santiago said.Cargo volume at PPA-managed ports rose 3.08 percent to 154.03 million metric tons from 149.42 million MT a year earlier.Container traffic also increased 2.65 percent to 4.30 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 4.19 million TEUs.The PPA attributed the higher cargo throughput partly to increased…