By Genivi Factao

Cagayan de Oro City — Cagayan de Oro port, the last link in the central nautical highway has yet to develop its RoRo facilities and expand its port to be able to compete effectively with the nearby and newly opened Mindanao Container Terminal.

The Mindanao Container Terminal, previously operated by Phividec Industrial Authority (PIA), is now bring run by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI.

CDO is but a stone’s throw awayor roughly seven kilometers from MCT, both located in Misamis Oriental.

"MCT has good potential and all we need to do is to market it properly" said ICTSI chairman Enrique Razon, who estimated that growth will be 10 percent in its first full year of operations.

CDO port manager Engr. Efren Bollozos said CDO welcomes the new operator, proving that there is no monopoly.

"CDO has its advantages and MCT too has a lot to offer to clients. We allow competition so that operators will improve their services. We have to work where we are weak," he said.

Bollozos said Phividec used to pay 5 percent of its revenues to CDO.

He sees a modest growth in its operations for this year.

He added that growth will be boosted by its regular clients. He said growth could have been higher if the upgrade in facilities such as

RoRo berth, construction of wharf and the back-up area for cargo are in place.

The government is linking the islands in Northern Mindanao by making RoRo operations efficient.

At present, CDO has pending request from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) of one gantry crane.

"It is an assurance to shipping lines that if one crane bogged down we have another one to replace it and avoid interruptions inside the port", he said.

The RoRo berth, he said, will need P400 million. He said he needs P900 million to finance the expansion of CDO.

MCT, a flagship project in Mindanao is designed to accommodate an annual throughput of 270,000 TEUs.

The berth length is 300 meters with a depth of 13 meters. He said MCT could accommodate only 2 vessels.

Total cargo volume is targeted to increase by 5 percent this year.

CDO caters to agro industrial inputs like fertilizers.

Last year, the port generated revenues of P146 million, up from the previous year’s P135 million.

MCT has two gantry cranes and four rubber-tired gantries.

MCT ‘s infrastructure development is needed to pump prime Mindanao development. MCT’s three regular callers are Maersk, National Marine Corp. and Lorenzo Shipping Corp.