The Philippine Coastal Storage and Pipeline Corporation (PCSPC), which operates the fuel depot here and the fuel pipeline linking Subic to Clark Freeport, has expanded its operations here with the inauguration of three new 180,000 barrel fuel storage tanks and two tank-truck loading racks on Friday.

The groundbreaking ceremony at the Maritan Hill expansion site was attended by top officials from the PCSPC, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and the Aboitiz Construction Group, Inc., which fabricated the new storage tanks.

Officials cut the ceremonial ribbon to inaugurate new fuel storage tanks at the PCSPC facility in the Subic Bay Freeport. From left: SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator Ramon Agregado, Ayta tribal elder Bonifacio Florentino, PCSPC Chairman Michael Rodriguez, SBMA Chairman Martin Diño, Aboitiz Construction President & COO Alberto Ignacio Jr., and PCSPC President & CEO David Attewill.

The operation of the three new tanks will increase PCSPC’s total fuel storage capacity to 5.2 million barrels, or 827 million liters, said PCSPC Chairman Michael Rodriguez.

“This considerable increase in storage is in response to our customers’ demand for quality and available fuel storage in Subic Bay, and we are pleased to be able to provide this new expansion to accommodate their needs.” Rodriguez said.

He also boasted that the construction of the three new storage tanks and the two tank-truck loading racks was completed within one year without any accidents.

The construction was “on time and on budget,” Rodriguez added.

SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma lauded the PCSPC project and noted that the construction of infrastructures within the Freeport can be done without any untoward incident. She added that the expansion of the fuel storage facility would also boost business in the Subic Bay Freeport.

PCSPC officials said the new tanks are on par with international standards and will increase the company’s total fuel storage by 540,000 barrels for various fuel products such as diesel, gasoline, jet and fuel oil.

The expansion also completed the PCSPC’s commitment to the SBMA to invest and build 1.8 million barrels of fuel tank storage at the Maritan tank farm.

The PCSPC’s strategic location inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone provides efficient importation of fuel products for storage and onward distribution along the network of well-maintained toll roads to Clark, Manila, Central and Northern Luzon.

“The Freeport also provides an efficient coastal location for hub operations with imports from regional refineries for onward export distribution to the region,” Rodriguez said.

The company has been operating the petroleum storage and pipeline facilities of the former US Naval Base in Subic. The facility was originally constructed in 1953 with a capacity of 2.4 million barrels, but PCSPC has doubled the fuel storage capacity over the past six years, with plans to further expand operation in the future.

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Good news kept coming out of the Subic Bay Freeport in the first half of this year, as the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority reported continuing growth in revenue, dividends, investments, exports and tourism.

In a report to President Rodrigo Duterte, who is set to make his first State of the Nation Address on July 24, the SBMA indicated increases in all aspects of its performance from January to May this year, said SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma.

SBMA Earns and grows

She said that in terms of the agency’s financial performance, it recorded a 7.7 percent growth in revenue from a total of P1.16 billion in the first five months last year to P1.25 billion in January-May 2017, and a 3.4 percent increase in operating income for the same period.

“But the most revealing item here is SBMA’s net income which went up by more than 126 percent, because from the P106.27 million that was recorded in January-May 2016, we’re now at P240.21 million in just the first five months this year,” Eisma said.

“Apparently—and this cannot be denied—the SBMA has continued well in its growth path in the last few years and we are actually breaking old records here,” she added.

Eisma also said that because of the upsurge in its financial performance, the SBMA has managed to contribute bigger shares to the government than ever before.

This includes a 30.58 percent increase in the revenue shares to local government units that went from P115.22 million in the first half last year to P150.46 million this year; and a 30.42 percent increase in the government’s 3% share from the gross income earned in the Subic Bay Freeport, which rose from P178.37 million in January-May 2016 to P232.63 million in the same period in 2017.

Still, the dividends paid by the SBMA to the national government through the Bureau of Treasury, Eisma added, reached a huge 352.7 percent increase, as actual remittances grew from P145.91 million to P660.69 million.

Eisma said the favorable financial picture in Subic also extended to new investment commitments, which surged by 642 percent from P5.6 billion in January to May 2016, to P40.55 billion in January-May 2017. Likewise, the number of new business locators grew by 58, bringing the total number of Subic-registered businesses to 1,527, while expansion projects of existing locators jumped by 85 percent, or from 13 last year to 24 this year.

“The huge increase in new investment commitments is due primarily to the approval of the investment project of Dynamic Konstruk International Eco Builders Corp. (DKIEBC), which amounts to P39.92 billion,” Eisma explained.

DKIEBC will engage in general construction, renewable energy and industrial hub development at the Rodondo Peninsula, with projected employment ranging from a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 50,000.

Eisma said other major business developments in Subic this year included the soft opening of Datian Subic Corp.’s shoe factory, which now employs 1,000 workers; the ground-breaking of Toyota Subic, Inc.’s P150-million multi-level showroom and service center; the start of Teekay Swan’s and JOVO’s ship-to-ship transfer operations with an expected annual port revenue of P200 million; and the start of DM Leisure Corp.’s P4.6-billion golf course and leisure complex project.

Meanwhile, the SBMA also gave positive reports in tourism, with a 1 percent increase in visitor arrivals and a 3 percent growth in actual revenues that stood at P10.54 million in January-May 2017.

Relative to tourism, Eisma also reported that the Subic Bay Freeport became the first free port zone in the country to have declared non-smoking zones in compliance with President Duterte’s EO 26 that called for the establishment of smoke-free environments in public and enclosed places.

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Pinasinayaan Tuesday afternoon, July 11 at the harbor point mall the product zambaleño trade fair related of observations on msmed or mirco, small medium enterprises week.

Report by Lolito Ramada Go

Attended such trade fair more than fifty small business owners, twenty one of them are the from another program of DTI that KMME or the brother, mentor me program. You became a guest in the assembly. James Lee, tagapangulo of MSMED Olongapo, Mr. Benjamin Farin Jr., tagapangulo naman ng MSMEDC Zambales. Also gave a short speech pd Leonila Baluyut of DTI Zambales and si g. Ronald Tan a dream out loud productions. Expected to take trade fair in such malls until July 16.

First Published: Subic Broadcasting Corporation @ Facebook

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The Bureau of Customs (BoC) said it opened on June 1 a one-stop-shop (OSS) trade facility at the Tipo, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) gate, which reduces a one-day processing time of documents to only four hours.

The facility includes personnel from Customs Enforcement, Customs Clearance, and X-ray equipment to cater to clients’ needs, especially port users.

BoC opens One Stop Shop at Subic Bay

The OSS facility bureau is seeking to replicate the current one-stop-shop at the New Container Terminal 1 in Port of Subic which was first constructed by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. with the BoC and SBMA in 2015.

“The OSS promotes ease of doing business where BoC stakeholders can switch between counters in processing BoC requirements,” the bureau said.

Due to this, port users no longer need to travel to various government offices to secure their trade documents.

The BoC estimates that the average one-day processing time of documents will be reduced to four hours.

“With the BoC-OSS, importers and brokers can expect shorter document and cargo processing times, thereby improving the overall processing efficiency at the Port of Subic,” the statement read.

The BoC and the Department of Finance has been making moves to reduce red tape in trade facilitation.

Currently, the Department of Finance (DoF) is pilot testing the system called TradeNet, a computerized internet-based system, which will be able to connect Philippines’ single window of trade-related agencies with neighboring countries, as it rationalizes and harmonizes all of trade data for faster processing.

This is because traders, who are required to secure permits from various government agencies before importing or exporting products, may be able to lodge all the necessary documents at a single window.

The DoF expects the system to be rolled out in September.

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A global cruise vacation company that operates in more than 500 destinations on all the seven continents is now eyeing the Subic Bay Freeport Zone as a regular cruise itinerary for its growing Asian market.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Wilma Eisma said the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), which owns and operates three global brands, had sent its Vice President for New Business Development John Tercek to assess Subic’s readiness as a cruise ship destination.

Oasis of the Seas, one the cruise ships operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is said to have revolutionized cruising because of its ground-breaking design that includes seven distinct neighborhoods.

“The Subic Freeport is now ready to meet the demands of the cruise tourism market, as we have been successful in this regard past when cruise ships like Clipper Odyssey, Spirit of Adventure, and the Hanseatic came to Subic,” Eisma said.

“But now we could be looking at a regular schedule by Royal Caribbean, so we’re really excited with this prospect,” she added.

Tercek, who was accompanied by officials of the Department of Tourism on his July 1-2 visit in Subic, said the RCCL is catering to 2 million Chinese cruise passengers per year and is now developing new market destinations.

“If ready, we are considering the Subic Freeport as one of the nearest stops from Southern China to help address the cruise market demand,” he added.

Tercek made an ocular inspection of Alava Wharf here and received a briefing from Eisma on the heritage and history of Subic as a former naval base and one of the most successful cases of military base conversion in the world. He was also updated on tourism business potentials in Subic, as well as neighboring communities in Central Luzon.

Tercek told Eisma during the visit that Subic has all the elements necessary for a cruise ship destination.

“I can see the potential of Subic Freeport as a conventional cruise ship destination,” he said. “But as we build bigger ships, you have to step up to address the demand.”

Tercek said if the port facilities are ready, the RCCL usually starts with five ship calls per year for a destination with 3,000 to 5,000 passengers each. In the case of Subic, where there is good weather from November to April, however, it will be possible to have from five up to 30 ship calls, he added.

Tercek, who has created shore-side infrastructure projects and ventures to support RCCL’s strategic growth objectives, likewise reminded SBMA and DOT officials that as the cruise industry starts to build bigger ships, “you have to prepare your port facilities to meet the market demand.”

He added that RCCL looks forward to supporting infrastructure development that will compliment cruise tourism development in Subic, just like what they did in Vietnam.

Tercek, who was a partner in a Wall Street real estate investment firm, now leads in the development and management of RCCL’s interests in ports and commercial facilities around the world and is in charge of determining the viability of the frim’s deployment in the region, as well as investment opportunities for cruise-related facilities and services.

As a global cruise vacation company, RCCL owns and operates three global brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises. It also has interests in the German brand TUI Cruises, the Spanish brand Pullmantur, and the SkySea cruises.

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