Volume at DICT in Panabo City to double in 2 years

The volume of cargo handled at the Davao International Container Terminal (DICT) in Panabo City is expected to double within the next two years as expansion work is planned for completion this year, said a top company official.

Alexander Anthony N. Valoria, president of Anflo Management and Investment Corp. (Anflocor), the holding company of the Floirendo group that runs the port, said the target increase in volume is likely with more shipping companies expressing intent to use the facility.

Last year, the port’s seven berthing windows handled 260,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up from 235,000 TEUs in the previous year.

The company is spending another P2 billion to allow it to handle 600,000 TEUs from the current capacity of about 300,000 TEUs.

“When the expansion is completed... very quickly we will be able to fill up the berthing windows,” Mr. Valoria told BusinessWorld in an interview.

DICT initially spent P2.7 billion for the port, which opened in 2013.

Anflocor, through its real estate arm, is also developing an adjacent economic zone, with the future agro-industrial locators seen to use the port facility.

Mr. Valoria said the port and the ecozone represent the company’s integrated plan and “vision to be a catalyst for the development of the (agricultural) industry.”

Anflocor’s flagship firm, the Tagum Agricultural Development Co., is the country’s biggest banana exporter.

Read More: Business World