Seaport revenues up 3% in April

Revenues generated by the Commonwealth Ports Authority through its seaport operations soared three percent from $388,994 in April last year to $400,257 during same period this year.

The growth in operating revenues allowed the ports authority to exceed the required debt coverage ratio of 125 percent by a whooping 17 percent to 142 percent in April 2000, according to a report from CPA comptroller Dave S. Demapan.

This is translated into $292,320 additional gross revenues for the ports authority’s marine division, said Mr. Demapan.

The CPA report disclosed the growth in operating revenues during the period under review was spurred by the adjustment in seaport fees that was implemented in July 1999.

This, even as gross revenue tonnage fell 13 percent in April 2000 from the same month last year which was mainly caused by a sudden 18 percent drop in inbound cargoes to 54,457 from last year’s 66,203 tons.

The 13 percent increase in outbound cargoes was not enough to pull up overall gross revenue tonnage, which registered 67,071 this year from the previous year’s 77,383.

Operations at the Rota seaport were also not encouraging, although it hit a 61 percent increase in the same period from 1,033 in gross revenue tonnage to this year’s 1,662.

Rota-bound cargoes climbed 77 percent from only 894 tons in April last year to 1,580 tons this year, while outbound revenue tonnage dropped 41 percent to 82 from 139 tons in the period under review.

The Tinian seaport registered 940 gross revenue tonnage for the month of April, posting a significant 60 percent decline from the year ago’s 2,355 despite a 6,800 percent increase in outbound cargoes.

The drop was primarily caused by a 66-percent reduction in inbound revenue tonnage at the San Jose harbor, from 2,353 to only about 800 tons in the month of April 2000.

At the same time, CPA’s seaport operations incurred $90,699 in total expenses during the same period, dropping by a dramatic 17 percent from $109,094 last year.

The marine division managed to reduce travel expenses by 176 percent; legal services by 78 percent, insurance expenditures by 18 percent; fuel costs by 17 percent; and consulting services by a whooping 455 percent.

The CPA financial report also showed seaport operations posted a net loss of $40,780 for the month of April, which indicates an improvement of 96 percent from last year’s $976,541.

Working capital reserves decreased by one percent from $1.434 million last year to $1.414 million. The marginal drop was mainly caused by the 19 percent reduction in total cash received from tenants and customers at $360,410 from the year ago’s $446.751.