Aboitiz realigns fleet to focus more on cargo

Manila: With the growth of budget airlines across the archipelago and the nation's appalling maritime safety record Aboitiz Transport Services, Inc. (ATS) is shifting its fleet to focus more on cargo than passengers.
Stephen G. Paradies, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. chief finance officer, said yesterday revenues from the freight business may in the end contribute up to 70 percent of ATS' consolidated revenues as the capacity adjustment continues.
In the past, passage and freight contribution was split roughly 50:50.
"What we do is retool our fleet. The vessels that we had before are less freight and more passage. Now we have more freight and less passage," said Aboitiz Equity president Erramon Aboitiz.
"We follow the market. We are just being responsive to the market," he added.
Currently, the ATS has a load factor of 70 percent for its passenger business and a load factor of 80 percent for its cargo handling, for its freight capacity of 68,000 teu and a total passage capacity of 1.49m passengers for all its operation. [20/05/10]