INTRODUCTION TO PORTS AND HARBORS IN THE WORLD AND IN THE

PHILIPPINES; HISTORY, BACKGROUND & DEFINITIONS

By. John Malone B. Severo

ABSTRACT: Over centuries, transport of goods by means of water transportation has

been evolved in steps with the needs of world trade and technical capabilities to build
larger ships and ship/cargo handling facilities. The interchange of goods and later of raw
materials between countries and continents reached by maritime traffic as well as the
development of powerful navy fleets brought about development of large sea ports; this
subsequently gave birth to large cities built around these ports. In postwar years, pallets
have been standardized internationally by International Standard Organization (ISO). The
need for efficient handling of containers stimulated the development of new equipment,
such as straddle carriers, heavy lift forklift trucks, gantry cranes, special tractors, and
others. Today, marine structure design is a unique discipline in the field of civil
engineering that is based on the use of highly advanced methods of soil foundation
investigation and thorough understanding of the principles of soil structure interaction in
the marine environment. Progress in development of new marine structures and
modernization of existing are consistent. Port is nothing but a place for docking, traffic
and storage of boats. On the contrary, a harbor is a place for storing boats. In Asia,
Specifically in Philippines, Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and the
South Harbor are the biggest public commercial ports in Manila. Together with the North
Harbor, these ports form the core of the Philippine Port System. Insights on the dynamics
of port operations in the Philippines by describing the port system of the handled cargo,
as well as the international volume of the ports are discussed.

OBJECTIVE: This paper seeks to draw lessons to learn the history and background of
ports and harbor not only from all over the world but also in the Philippines. To provide
the basic definitions pertaining in highlight of ports engineering.

1. HISTORIES AND BACKGROUND IN THE WORLD

1.1 3500 B. C and Beyond

The history of maritime transportation and port development dates back to the year 3500
B.C. and beyond. Maritime transportation has generally been the most convenient and
least expensive means of transporting goods, and this is why mankind, since ancient
times, has been steadily extending its activities into this area.

Initially, waterborne traffic has existed on a local basis where small ships sailed out of
river ports for other nearby river ports located in the same river system. With advancing
navigational skills the merchants ventured greater and greater distances. This stage may
be seen as the beginning of the development of modern ports. The ever-increasing
demand for shipping and port facilities resulted in construction of the first open-sea ports.
Four to five thousand years ago the Phoenicians established open-seaports along the
Mediterranean coastline, and the Romans built the famous naval port near Rome on the
Tiber River at Ostia.
1.2 End of First Century A.D.

As pointed out by DuPlat Taylor (1949), a number of large ports had been constructed in
the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Unfortunately, many of these old
ports and harbors have disappeared, either being destroyed during the wars, buried by
earth- quakes, or just through neglect and decadence. Some of these ports are known
from old documents and archaeologists have discovered some. These ports have been
well planned and effectively executed.

1.3 Earlier Centuries (Roman Empire)

The use of tongue and grooved, laminated, and various other types of sheet piling, and
large stone blocks are found in treaties by Roman architects (Leimdorfer, which
fluctuated greatly with the arrival 1979). As ship navigators developed more skill and
fears of unknown waters gradually disappeared, merchant mariners, in addition
necessary. to trade between river ports on their own coasts, started sailing the high seas,
bringing goods from country to country and from continent to continent. Many modern
cities have been built and expanded around medieval ports located on the open sea, bays,
estuaries, sounds, and rivers. Examples are London, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and many
others

1.4 1880s

A revival of ships interest in port works reappeared. Port developments and their
evolution has started, motivated by both economic and technological pressures that
resulted from the global industrial revolution. At this time, the size, diversity, and
complexity of ports changed dramatically. To a great ex- tent this have been influenced
by the changing nature of ships, for example, the transition from ships made from wood
to steel and the introduction and rapid development of steamboats, and by the
demand that greater volumes of cargo be handled at ports more rapidly. The latter
stimulated the development of more and more efficient.

However, in the 1880s many kinds of cargos were still handled manually as it had been
for centuries. Cargoes that consisted basically of bags, bales, bundles, barrels, cases,
cartons, drums, pieces of timber, steel, and so forth have been moved manually in the
ship, on the quay, in the shed, and in the ware- house, sometimes ''humped" on the back.
This created a heavy demand for labor which in fluctuated greatly with the arrival and
departure of ship. Thus, if the ships were to be turned round efficiently and economically,
a big pool of casual laborers was necessary.

In the late 1880s, ships still continued their transition from sail to steam engine. The
capacity of these vessels was a few thousand tonnes and their draft less than 6 m. As
ships changed, so did the ports that served them.

1.5 Early 1900s

A shift to mechanized handling of cargoes in ports began in early 1900s and was largely
dictated by the growing volume of maritime traffic and changing size of ships. 1920s,
most of the general cargo ships were using onboard booms to move cargo by the sling-
load method. The trend toward the growth of ship size coincided with construction of
vessels specialized in transporting a certain type of cargo (e.g., general purpose
commodities, dry and liquid bulk cargoes etc.) New development in ship industry
inevitably brought about innovations in cargo handling and hauling technologies, the
most radical of which was introduction of quay edge cranes.

World War II inspired inventiveness took mechanization of cargo handling one step
forward by the introduction of forklift trucks and pallets that enabled the general-purpose
cargoes to be moved faster. In postwar years, pallets have been standardized
internationally by International Standard Organization (ISO) (1992). The ISO
Committee stipulated that the maximum permissible width of road vehicles (then mostly
flat and open) must be about 245 em; thus, all standard pallets had one dimension, of
which 245 em was a multiple, so that they could be stowed across open vehicles without
wasting space. The use of forklift vehicles and pallets was very rapidly developed in
industry all over the world, and palletized loads occupied the steadily increasing volume
of ship holds. This, however, changed drastically in the not too distant future.

1.6 1950s
The shift to new technologies occurred in the 1950s with the introduction of
container ships built to transport large freight containers. Containers were soon
standardized ISO internationally to 20 or 40 ft in length (6.06 m or 12.19 m) with the
outside width and height being 8 ft (2.44 m). At the present time, the empty weight of a
modern 20-ft container ranges from 19 to 22 kN with maximum permitted total weight of
240 kN. The empty weight of a 40-ft con- tainer ranges from 28 to 36 kN with a
maximum permitted total weight of 305 kN.
Initially, conventional quay edge cranes have handled containers. The first specially
designed container crane was introduced in 1959, and over the last 30 years, container
handling cranes have grown. in size and handling capacity. The need for efficient
handling of containers stimulated the development of new equipment, such as straddle
carriers, heavy lift forklift trucks, gantry cranes, special tractors, and others. Older forklift
trucks used for handling gen- eral cargo and pallets had lifting capacities of 30-80 kN. In
contrast, today's new fork- lifts for container handling have capacities up to 450 kN.
During the last 25 years, the roll-on/roll- off method of handling containers have been
developed and used extensively. This method allows containers, but also cars, trucks,
trains, and so forth, to roll on ships via large stern or side ramps. The advent od
containers completely overshadowed cargo handling on pallets. The introduction of
container system for transporting goods revolutionizes sea and land transport and cargo
handling methods increased drastically.

1.6 PRESENT
Today, marine terminals and ports are built wherever they can be economically justified.
On poor quality land, the need for large open areas to accommodate a modern container
facility has induced ports to move to the periphery of cities and often o poor quality land.
It challenge the port designers and has been an area of controversy related mostly to
dredging and disposal of the contaminated dredge soils. Alternatives to dredging have
found in constructing offshore island ports and moving the up-river shallow draft ports
down river to deeper waters Dramatic changes have also occurred in the handling of
liquid and dry bulk cargoes. Movements of liquid bulk petroleum products by ship started
in the 1880s when special tanks were mounted onto existing vessels. Prior to this, the
only means of moving liquids was in barrels, which was not a very efficient way of
transporting ever-increasing quantities as mankind moved into the petroleum age. Since
the introduction of the first tank-mounted vessels, the procedure and method of liquid
bulk handling has not changed in principle 100 years later; however, technical
improvements in this area have been spectacular. The capacity of liquid bulk carriers
(tankers) in the 1940s has reached 22,000 DWT and at the present time 500,000-DWT
tankers ply the oceans. Today, several shipyards in Europe and Asia have the capacity to
build 1,000,000-DWT tankers. Similar developments have occurred in the transportation
of dry bulk materials. Bulk carriers have lagged but tracked tanker growth, and, similarly,
tankers may also be expected to grow in the future. The use of large and very large deep
draft ships for transporting liquid and dry bulk materials and the material hauling
innovations have changed the nature of the modern port. Ports actually become a highly
specialized terminals able to handle the one specific cargo at very high rates; for
example, loading of up to 20,000 tonnes and more of dry bulk, and 220,000 m3 of crude
oil per day; thus, annual throughput of tens of mil- lions of tonnes has been achieved.

2. Engineering Advancement in Port Design and Construction

The primary construction materials that were used for construction of older marine
facilities were wood and stone. They were worked by hand and used for construction of
sheet-pile bulkheads, piled piers, quay walls, breakwaters, and other structures. Using
primitive power equipment drove wooden sheet piles and regular piles, and stone was
placed from crude construction platforms.
Cast-iron piles became complementary to timber piling in the early 1800s (Borthwick,
1936). The earliest reported use of iron sheet piles was construction of the North Pier of
Bridlington harbor, the United Kingdom, in the early 1820s (Mackley, 1977). Various
types of iron sheet-pile sections were avail- able at that time, and a considerable amount
of exploratory work was carried out in order to develop the most economical profile. Cast
iron, however, as a material had limitations primarily because of its vulnerability to
brittle fracture during driving in hard soils. Typically, wrought-iron piles were used in a
composite riveted form and were based primarily on the fitting of plates between suitable
guides or against sup- ports.
In 1897 a Danish engineer, Larssen, revolutionized the use of iron sheet piles by
introducing a new pile section which was developed from a rolled trough section plus a
riveted "z" section, to form an interlock; this shape is very familiar in modern
construction.
In 1914 Larssen also introduced the first deep-arch section in which interlocks were
situated in the neutral axis of the complete section; thus, their material bulk did not
influence the bending moment to be taken up.
Larssen's inventions and modifications helped to greatly increase the capacity and
effectiveness of sheet piles in their ability to resist earth and water pressures. Increased
pile stiffness enabled it to be driven without buckling or springing under the blows of the
driving hammer, increased water-tight- ness of the sheeting prevented seepage through
the wall, and, most importantly, efficient use of rolling mills produced an economical
section with interlocks.
At the beginning of this century, both wood and iron have been replaced by steel and
reinforced concrete. The first sheet pile ever made from a rolled section was used in
Chicago in 1901; it was called the Jackson pile. This was followed by the rather fast
development of numerous straight or trough sections of steel piles that were produced
around the world, either with integral locking arrangements or with a separate inter-
locking member.
The first steel "z"-shaped sheet piling known as the Hoesch system was introduced in
Belgium in 1913. In comparison with other sections, this type of piling was stiffer and
had a higher section modulus at equal weight with other piling systems. Since this time,
various combinations of different piling systems and various types of box piles (H-
section) have been introduced in North America and Europe. At present, a variety of
high-strength sheet- pile sections are available from different pile manufacturers.
Reinforced concrete sheet piles have been used in harbor construction since the beginning
of this century. They are usually considered relatively maintenance-free components of a
sheet-pile wall. Although many different design types have been developed and used in
the past 50 or so years, the straight web piling bar provided with a tongue and groove,
similar to that used on timber piles, is the most commonly used. Since the 1950s,
prestressed concrete sheet piles have replaced almost completely the ones made from
regular reinforced concrete.
Prestressing of concrete sheet-pile reinforcement has an advantage, especially in seawater
environment, as cracking of concrete in the tension zone is thereby largely eliminated and
the danger of corrosion of reinforcement is decreased.
The same applies to regular concrete piles that are extensively used in marine applica-
tion. The advantage of piled structures is that they enable practically free passage of
waves, which makes them particularly at- tractive for construction of the deep water
offshore terminals.
Remarkable progress has been achieved in concrete technology. Today's structural
concrete is indeed a mixture of admixtures. Products such as superplasticizers, retarders,
accelerators, air entrainers, and others allow concrete pours in cold temperature or hot
weather. A denser and higher quality product is obtained by use of silica fume in a slurry
or powdered form. Silica fume can substantially increase strength and density of concrete
and make it virtually impervious to chloride penetration in the harsh marine environment.
Furthermore, use of corrosion inhibitors may slow down the potential onset of corrosion
in steel reinforcing bars.

In modern marine engineering practice, a number of innovative and economical gravity-

type quay walls have been employed. Among them are concrete large- diameter floated-
in caissons, bottomless concrete cylinders, and prefabricated L- shaped retaining walls of
miscellaneous designs.

The design of any project is a continuous process, which begins with the perception of a
need or opportunity, followed by a feasibility study that usually includes a conceptual
design, and embedded by the detail design. The latter is followed by the construction of
the project with subsequent commissioning. Furthermore, where required to support the
basic concept of the project (e.g., harbor layout) or permit innovative structural designs to
be used with confidence, research is undertaken.

In the past, port and its related marine structures have been designed with a high degree
of redundancy, largely because of the relatively rapid deterioration rate of structural
materials in the marine environment, but also due to a lack of proper understanding of
wave mechanics, mechanisms of ship-structure and/or soil-structure interaction. The
latter was particularly true in designing a "flexible" structure such as sheet-pile
bulkheads.

More durable structural materials are introduced for better construction technology, and a
better understanding of the process of soil-structure interaction. Thus, research and
development directly or indirectly became the integral part of the design process.

Today's engineers have abundant analytical capability supported by computers. The

mathematical modeling of a complex phenomenon such as the interaction between nature
and engineering developments has become commonplace in the design process. It enables
the engineer to closely predict the behavior of the complex structure in practice.

Finally, it should be noted that in the past in order to reduce the cost of a design, attempts
to standardize construction of marine structures have been made. It has been proved,
however, that standard designs to meet various site conditions, in general, and marine
facilities, in particular, are not economical. In general, it is because the cost of the
waterfront structure is so high that it would be false economy to attempt to reduce design
costs by limiting the scope of design studies.

In conclusion, it must be said that producing a good, sound, and effective design is, of
course, science; however, it is also an art. Just as an artist does, the designer must be
imaginative in developing the concept of his or her project and, as a scientist, careful and
meticulous in paying attention to all details.

3. Definition of Terms

Anchorage – A place with sufficient depth of water where vessels anchor within the
harbour. (QMS 2016)

Berth – A specified length of quay wall where a vessel can tie up. Berthing/Docking -
Manoeuvring of a vessel from anchorage position or from a pilot station to a berth,
including the process of stationing the vessel alongside the pier, quay or wharf.

Breakwaters – A physical structure that protects port infrastructure from the sea.

Bulk Cargo - Cargo that is unpacked or undivided into parts and handled in mass. It may
come in any of the following forms: solid, pulverized, liquid, semi-liquid or gas.

Cargo Throughout - Total volume of cargo discharged and loaded at the port. It includes
breakbulk, liquid bulk, dry bulk, containerized cargo, transit cargo, and transhipment.

Container - A large metal box in which goods are stuffed and handled as one unit. The
standard sizes are 20 ft. x 8 ft.; 40 ft. x 8 ft.; 45 ft. x 8 ft.

Container Terminal - A port facility designed to provide an integrated use of berthing

facilities for containership and harbour transport system for containers and their contents.

Container Yard (CY) - A designated area in a container terminal usually adjacent to the
marshalling yard where containers and chassis are received stacked and dispatched.

Controlling Depth - The least depth of water in the navigable parts of the waterway,
which limits the allowable draft of vessels.

Depth - The vertical distance measured at the middle of the vessel’s length from top of
keel or top of ceiling to top of upper deck at sides or amidships.

Draft of Vessel - The depth of the ship measured vertically from the waterline to the
lowest part of the vessel’s hull, propellers or other reference point.

Dues - Include harbour fees, tonnage and wharfage dues and other dues or fees imposed
by virtue of the existing laws as P.D. 857.

Dwell Time –The number of hours spent by a vessel from waiting time to berth until the
time of completion of the un-berthing process on final departure.

Dry Bulk–This pertains to unpacked solid goods.

Embarkation - The act of boarding a vessel or ship.

Foreign Trade - A term applied to the trade carried on between a Philippine port and a
foreign port.

Freight - The price paid to a ship owner for the transport of goods or merchandise by sea
from one specific port to another. The word freight is also used to denote goods which
are in the process of being transported from one place to another.

Full Container Load (FCL) - A container loaded with cargoes belonging to one consignee
covered by one bill of lading and meant for door-to-door delivery.

Gang - A group of cargo workers employed to work in a hatch.

Infrastructure - The fixed and immoveable parts of a harbour such as land, roads, quay
walls and breakwaters.

Harbour - A protected part of the sea, lake or other body of water used by vessels as a
place of safety.

Hatch - An opening in a vessel’s deck through which cargo can be lowered.

Length Overall (LOA) - The total length from the foremost to the aftermost points of a
vessel’s hull.

Liquid Bulk – It refers to unpacked liquid goods that can be handled through a pipeline,
is stored and transported on the vessel or vehicle in tanks.

Loading - The operation of transferring cargo from the quay of barge into the hold or on
to the deck of a ship. It is not complete until the cargo has been removed from the slings
and placed in the hold or on the deck of a vessel.

Metric Ton - The weight measurement equivalent to 2,204.6 lbs. or 1,000 kilograms.

Mooring - Securing to a dock or to a buoy, or anchoring with two anchors.

Net Service Time – This refers to the vessel working time. Packaging - Form of shipping
cargoes, either as breakbulk or conventional, bulk or containerized.

Packing or Stuffing - Loading of cargoes inside a container.

Pallet - A portable platform or deck, generally about 6 ft. x 4 ft. on which goods can be
attached to form a unit load which can be transported usually by a mechanical appliance
such as forklift trucks. Pallet usually stands on bearers with a clearance of several inches
leaving a space into which forklift can penetrate for lifting purposes.

Pier – Any structure built into the sea but not parallel to the coastline and includes any
stage, stair loading place, landing stare, jetty floating barge on pontoon and any bridge or
other works connected therewith.

Port – A place where ships may anchor or tie up for the purpose of shelter, repair, loading
or discharge of cargo or for other such activities connected with water borne-commerce,
and including all the land and water areas and the structures, equipment and facilities
related to the functions.

· Terminal Port – a terminal is defined as a generic term for a front line unit
consisting of a port facility or a number of port facilities, government or private.
There are different kinds of terminal such as those engaged in multi-purpose
operations as opposed to specialized or dedicated to a single type of operation,
e.g. bulk terminal

· Base Port (BP)- A center or hub of operations and is, in most cases, the busiest
terminal in a PMO.

· Roll On/Roll Off (Ro-Ro) Vessels - Specially designed vessels for carrying
trailers, cars and other rolling equipment which is discharged through the bow or
stern ramps or both.

Shipcalls - The number of vessels which call or arrive at a particular port at any given
time.

Stevedore – Person who provides cargo handling service. In the Philippines, the term
refers to a person of company engaged in cargo handling on-board a vessel as opposed to
arrastre.

Stevedoring Services - All works performed on board vessel, i.e., the process or act of
loading and unloading cargo, stowing inside hatches, compartments and on deck or open
spaces on board vessel.

Time on Berth – This is also described as the Service Time . It is the number of hours a
vessel spent from the time of completing the berthing process to the time of completion
of the un-berthing process on final departure. It may include the downtime/idle time of
the vessel while on berth.

Transshipment – The shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate country of

destination then to yet another country of final destination. The port intermediate country
is referred to as transshipment port.

Transit Cargo - Cargo discharged and loaded from a port of origin to a port of destination
through another port.

Transit Shed - A covered building on the pier or wharf used for storage of cargo in
transit, that is, cargo recently unloaded from or soon to be loaded to a ship.

Twenty-Foot-Equivalent Unit (TEU) - The unit of measurement equivalent to a

container’s length of 20 feet. It is often used to express the capacity of container ships or
container terminals (Wikipedia).

Vessel – includes any ship or boat or any description of a vessel or boat, or any artificial
contrivance used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. (QMS
2016)

Waiting Time – The number of hours spent by a vessel from the time of first reporting at
the port to the time of completion of the berthing process before working.

Wharf - A continuous structure built parallel to the margin of the sea or alongside
riverbanks, canals, or waterways where vessels may lie alongside to receive or discharge
cargo, embark or disembark passengers, or lie at rest.

4. Ports and Harbours

Ports and harbours conduct four important functions: administrative (ensuring that the
legal, socio-political and economic interests of the state and international maritime
authorities are protected), development (ports are major promoters and instigators of a
country’s or wider regional economy), industrial (major industries process the goods
imported or exported in a port), and commercial (ports are international trade junction
points where various modes of transport interchange; loading, discharging, transit of
goods).
The terms "port" and "seaport" are used for ports that handle ocean-going vessels, and
"river port" is used for facilities that handle river traffic, such as 2 barges and other
shallow draft vessels. Some ports on a lake, river, or canal have access to a sea or ocean,
and are sometimes called "inland ports".

A harbour (US spelling "harbor") is a place of security and comfort, a small bay or other
sheltered part of an area of water, usually well protected against high waves and strong
currents, and deep enough to provide anchorage for ships and other craft. It is also a place
where port facilities are provided, e.g. accommodation for ships and cargo handling
facilities.

The term port or seaport normally includes the harbour and the adjacent town or city
suitable for loading goods and embarking men. A haven is a type of harbour used in
literature or in names and adds the idea of refuge.

Human-made harbours work as ports, as they are constructed like one. Ports are basically
developed to handle international trading between countries like imports and exports of
goods. On the flip side, harbours serve as a vast spacing place where boats and ships are
stored, when the atmospheric conditions are not well.

A "fishing port" is a type of port or harbor facility particularly suitable for landing and
distributing fish. A "dry port" is a term sometimes used to describe a yard used to place
containers or conventional bulk cargo, usually connected to a seaport by rail orroad.
 A "warm water port" is a port where the water does not freeze in winter because they are
available year-round, warm water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest,
with the ports of Saint Petersburg and Valdez being notable examples. A "port of call" is
an intermediate stop, for example to collect supplies or fuel.

Cargo containers allow efficient transport and distribution by eliminating loading of

smaller packages at each transportation point, and allowing the shipping unit to be sealed
for its entire journey. Standard containers can easily be loaded on a ship, train, truck, or
airplane, greatly simplifying intermodal transfers. Cargo often arrives by train and truck
to be consolidated at a port and loaded onto a large container ship for international
transport. At the destination port, it is distributed by ground transport.

Ships are accommodated and handled, i.e. loaded and unloaded, at such port structures
as; wharfs or quays, piers and jetties, and sometimes alongside moles or breakwaters.

Any place where a ship can safely lie alongside a quay, pier or dock, at anchor or a buoy,
and where she can carry out loading/discharge operations or embark and disembark
passengers is called a berth.

A dry dock is a type of dock consisting of a rectangular basin dug into the shore of a
body of water and provided with a removable enclosure wall or gate on the side toward
the water, used for major repairs and overhaul of vessels. When a ship is to be docked,
the dry dock is flooded, and the gate removed.

Wharf is the oldest term in English referring to port structures. It denotes any structure of
timber, masonry, cement, or other material built along or at an angle to the navigable
waterway, with sufficient depth of water to accommodate vessels and receive and
discharge cargo or passengers.

The term can be substituted for quay when applied to great solid structures in large ports.
The area between the quay wall (made of solid masonry) and the nearby warehouse or
storage facility is ca1led the quay apron.

A pier is a construction work extending into the harbour with sufficient depth of water
alongside to accommodate vessels, also used as a promenade or landing place for
passengers. A jetty is a small pier, usually made of timbers for boats, yachts or fishing
boats (fisherman jetty), but it also refers to large ships

The word terminal refers to a complete port facility for accommodating,

loading/discharge of ships and for the storage, stacking and handling of cargo on
shore(e.g. bulk cargo terminal, oil terminal, livestock terminal, etc.).
A mole or breakwater is a massive port structure made of masonry or large stone blocks
laid in the sea to protect the harbour from waves and current. Sometimes the terms jetty
and pier are used to mean the same.

5. PHILIPPINES

In the early 1970's, there were already 591 national and municipal ports plus 200 private
ports scattered all over the country necessitating the need for long-range planning and
rationalization of port development. Prior to the creation of Philippine Ports Authority,
port administration in the Philippines was merged with the traditional function of revenue
collection of the Bureau of Customs (BOC). Port and harbor maintenance was the
responsibility of the Bureau of Public Works (BPW).

There was an identified need to integrate and coordinate port planning, development,
operations and regulation at the national level. Around this time, the Bureau of Customs
had proposed to the Reorganization Committee and to Congress the creation of a separate
government agency to integrate the functions of port operations, cargo handling and port
development and maintenance to enable the Bureau to concentrate on tax and customs
duties collection.

Realizing that the establishment and operation of port authorities in other countries led to
improved port operations, it was felt that the same benefits could be derived with a
national port authority to administer and manage the country's ports. Hence, the
Philippine Ports Authority was created under Presidential Decree No. 505 which was
subsequently amended by P.D. No. 857 in December 1975. The latter decree broadened
the scope and functions of the PPA to facilitate the implementation of an integrated
program for the planning, development, financing, operation and maintenance of ports or
port districts for the entire country.

In 1978, the charter was further amended by Executive Order No. 513 the salient features
of which were the granting of police authority to the PPA, the creation of a National Ports
Advisory Council (NPAC) to strengthen cooperation between the government and the
private sector, and the empowering of the Authority to exact reasonable administrative
fines for specific violations of its rules and regulations. By virtue of its charter, the PPA
was attached to what was then the Ministry of Public Works and Highways (MPWH)
which also served as the executing agency for all port construction projects. Under this
set-up, PPA prepared the general plans, programs and project priorites while the MPWH
was responsible for detailed engineering, actual construction and/or supervision of port
construction projects.

The PPA was subsequently removed from under the jurisdiction of the MPWH (DPWH)
and attached to what is now the Department of Transportation and Communications
(DOTC) for policy and program coordination. Subsequently, by virtue of Executive
Order No. 159, which was issued in 1987, the PPA is now vested with the function of
undertaking all port construction projects under its port system, relieving DPWH of this
responsibility. The executive order also granted PPA financial autonomy.

Ports can be considered as nodes that connect land and maritime transport. The efficiency
of a port is essential for economic growth as it lowers the logistical costs and contributes
to higher passenger convenience. In the area of the maritime transport, port operations are
essential, as they create trade between different trade partners. The direct economic
impact of the port operations and services can be verified by measuring the BOC
collection. In 2015, the direct impact of the port operations and services was around 366
billion pesos.

5.1 Port Infrastructure System

The port system of the Philippines can be sub-divided into the following categories:

1) The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) system of public and private ports,

2) Ports under Independent Port Authorities (IPA),

3) Municipal ports to Local Government Units (LGUs),

4) Road Roll-on and Roll off Terminal System (RRTS) of private and LGU (Figure 7).
The port system of the PPA consists of five Port District Offices (PDOs): two in Luzon,
one in Visayas and two in Mindanao. PDOs are in charge of the administration of the
districts and were founded to enable easier controlling and operating of the ports. Each
PDO consists of smaller geographical subordinate groups referred to as Port Management
Offices (PMOs). These supervise and operate public and private ports, wherein private
ports are either for noncommercial or commercial use.

The Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and the South Harbor are the
biggest public commercial ports in Manila. Together with the North Harbor; these ports
form the core of the Philippine Port System. To provide better services and to ensure
more competitiveness, the MICT and the South Harbor have been privatized. In 1988, the
ICTSI was awarded with the terminal operation of the MICT. Nearly a decade later, the
management and operation of the South Harbor was contracted to the private company
ATI. Although the MICT and the South Harbor are under operation of private companies,
the infrastructure is still owned by the PPA. Therefore, these ports are considered as
landlord ports.

The operations of the North Harbor have been transferred to Manila North Harbor Ports,
Inc., of which Harbor Center Port Terminal. Inc. is the major share-holder. With the
purpose of decentralizing the power of the PPA, the Independent Ports Authorities (IPAs)
have been founded.

Although, the IPAs are authorized to determine their own rates, they usually take a cue
from the PPA. In total, there are six IPAs. These include the SBMA, the Cebu Port
Authority (CPA), the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), the Phividec
Industrial Authority (PIA), the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and
the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA).

Aside from the mentioned ports, there are ports under Local Government Units (LGUs)
that were initially constructed and developed by the former DOTC and later were handed
over to LGUs. These are small landing stages or feeder ports. Under the agreement of the
PPA and the Philippines Fisheries and Development Authority (PDFA), fishing ports
handle few commercial cargo.

The Road-RoRo Terminal System (RRTS) is the fourth category of the port
infrastructure. The system was launched in 2003 with the purpose to parallel the PPA
port system. The RRTS is defined as a network of Ro-Ro ferry terminals linked by Ro-Ro
vessels. According to Executive Order 170, Ro-Ro shipping policies should

a) lead to lower costs of inter-island transportation,

b) enhance tourism, transportation, and commerce,

c) facilitate agro-fisheries modernization and food security programs, and

d) promote private sector participation in constructing and operating Ro-Ro facilities.

5.2 Port of Manila

A collective facilities and terminals that process maritime trade function in harbours that
serve the Metro Manila Area. It is located in the Port Area and Tondo area
of Manila, Philippines facing the Manila Bay. It is the largest and the premier
international shipping gateway to the country. The Philippine Ports Authority, a
government-owned corporation, manages the Port of Manila and most of the public ports
in the country.

It is composed of 3 major facilities namely Manila North Harbor, Manila South Harbor
and the Manila International Container Terminal.

The Port of Manila and the area dates back to Spanish and pre-Spanish rule of the
Philippine Islands. It is recorded that Manila and the Philippines had trade relations with
most neighboring countries at least as far back as the 9th to 12th centuries. Major trading
partners included China and Japan, with ties to India through the areas that are
now Malaysia and Indonesia. The Spanish-controlled Port of Manila handled trade
primarily with China and other East Asian countries, with Mexico, with Arab countries,
and directly with Spain from the 16th to mid-19th century CE when the port was opened
to all trade ships. Manila Bay was the setting for the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898
between United States and Spanish forces, and the siege of Corregidor Island by invading
Japanese forces in 1942.

5.2.1 Manila North Harbor

Manila North Harbor occupying a 53-hectare area in Tondo, Manila and operated by the
Manila North Harbour Port Incorporated, has 7 piers namely Pier 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and
14. North Harbor is accessible by road through Radial Road 10. Modernization of the
port facility involves the acquisition of heavy equipment, dredging operations,
information technology, container terminal expansion and a recently completed North
Port Passenger Terminal that can accommodate more passengers, boost tourism in the
country, and replace the old terminal.

5.2.2 Manila South Harbor

Manila South Harbor is an 80-hectare port facility located in Port Area, Manila and
operated by Asian Terminals Incorporated, has 5 piers namely Pier 3, 5, 9, 13 and 15. It is
accessible by road through Bonifacio Drive has a passenger terminal located between
Pier 13 and 15 namely Eva Macapagal Super Terminal. It also houses as the main hub
of 2GO ferry company. As of April 29, 2014. The management has installed a new
Liebherr quay crane to increase the efficiency of Manila South Harbor.

5.2.3 Manila International Container Terminal

Operated by International Terminal Services Inc. It is one of Asia's major seaports and
one of the Philippines' most active ports. It is located between the Manila North Harbor
and the Manila South Harbor and can be accessed by road through MICT South Access
Road. In 2011, Manila International Container Terminal ranked 38th place in the List of
world's busiest container ports with container traffic (TEU) of 3,260,000. Inaugurated on
July 7, 2012, Berth 6 became fully operational and increases the Port's annual capacity by
450,000 TEU's.
5.3 Philippine International Ports Volume 2015

Millions of tons of cargoes were transferred through ports all over the Philippines in
2015. A portion of this volume was serviced at private ports (ports that are operated by a
private company, or ran by private companies). The remaining volume was handled by
government ports (base ports, terminal ports and other government ports). However, only
a few ports in the Philippines contribute mainly to the international trade. In terms of
international trade, there are four vital ports in Luzon:

1) Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC),

2) the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT),

3) the Asian Terminals, Inc. (ATI),

4) and the Batangas Container Terminal (BCT

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