Listed firm Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) reported a 24 percent decline in net income to P1.5 billion in the first nine months of the year, due to volume-driven expenses, rising fuel price and unfavorable foreign exchange rate impact.
Still, ATI remains bullish with volumes breaking through the one-million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) mark by third quarter this year, reflective of sustained trade recovery amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Cargo flow during the third quarter was tempered by operational disruptions in major Asian transshipment hubs caused by spikes in COVID-19 incidents, with governments pre-emptively locking down port facilities to curb infection rates, ATI said.
Disruptions in the major regional ports resulted in ship rerouting, anchorage queuing, terminal gridlocks and the subsequent delays in container and logistics cycles, it added.
Despite this, William Khoury,ATI executive vice president,said in a statement the company is optimistic of cargo increase for the remainder of the year driven by higher consumer confidence, robust demand during the holiday rush and inventory preparations by major industries, especially with the recent easing of community restrictions which would further open the economy.
“As of October, we have reached 100 percent vaccination rate for our employees. This further boosts ATI’s capacity and capability to handle more container volumes safely and efficiently as we keep in step with market recovery and fulfill our vital role in keeping cargoes flowing in the supply chain,” Khoury said.
From January to September, ATI’s international gateway ports in Manila and Batangas handled over 810,000 TEUs and nearly 200,000 TEUs, respectively, indicating resilient growth since the novel health emergency disrupted global and local supply chains last year.
This represents a consolidated volume growth of 8 percent compared to end-September 2020.
Driven by higher cargo volume, ATI reported in a recent regulatory disclosure its revenues for the nine-month period amounted to P8.22 billion, 3.2 percent higher than the P7.97 billion posted in the same period last year.
