THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has opened the bidding to find an "experienced operator" to manage and operate the second phase of Subic's New Container Terminal (NCT-2) in the Philippines, which is intended to serve as a transhipment hub for shipping lines.
The second phase of the new multi-million dollar container terminal in the Subic Bay Freeport was completed early this year. It has an annual box handling capacity of 300,000 TEU, 14 hectares of container yard, a 280-metre long wharf, two 53-ton quay gantry cranes, as well as buildings, equipment and utilities within the area.
"What we're basically looking for is a shipping line or a port operator who has the capacity to manage and maintain the NCT-2," Armand Arreza, administrator of the SBMA, was cited as saying in a report by the Business Mirror from the Philippines.
"The NCT-2, like the NCT-1 which is the first phase of the terminal project, is considered a critical infrastructure for the Port of Subic, so we'd like to maximise its potential to make Subic a world-class player in the logistics business," he said.
Mr Arreza said in the report that suitable bidders for NCT-2 would be either an operator of an international container shipping line, or a consortium of operators for international shipping lines.
Bidders would be expected to operate an international container terminal that handles at least 2 million TEU per year, or has an operating capacity of 100,000 TEU. Numbers could be combined by separate capacities in case of a bidding consortium.
Furthermore, bidders should have a net worth of at least US$50 million, which could also be a combined net worth among consortium members. The requirements apply to local and foreign bidders, with foreign equity within the 40 per cent mandated limit, the report said.
The NCT-2 is located at Subic's Cubi Point, alongside NCT-1 that now operates under Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC). The two terminals were built under the $215-million Subic Port Modernisation Project that was started in 2004.
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