Cargo traffic up 7% in 2025

January 17, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine logistics industry grew its cargo throughput by seven percent in 2025, driven by the strength of domestic trade as industries ramped up the order book for raw materials.

Records from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed that the country’s cargo traffic climbed to 308.5 million metric tons (MT) last year, overcoming earlier risks from global instability.

Domestic cargo throughput jumped by nine percent to 114.09 million MT last year from 104.83 million MT in 2024, as industries bought more raw materials that required shipping services.

Largely, the growth was fueled by higher shipment of construction materials, petroleum products and raw goods.

The PPA said these shipments were used to construct infrastructure projects and increase industrial production.

Foreign cargo traffic went up by five percent to 194.41 million MT from 184.58 million MT, weathering the storm that is higher US tariffs.

In the first half of 2025, US President Donald Trump rocked the global trading system again by slapping higher tariffs on imports.

The Philippines — an economic and security ally of the US — was not spared, with Trump hitting it with a 20-percent tariff on all goods to ease Washington’s trade deficit.

The rate was lowered to 19 percent when President Marcos himself went to the White House to negotiate with Trump.

Overall, container throughput in ports exceeded eight million twenty-foot equivalent units, of which 5.55 million TEUs came from overseas while 2.99 million TEUs moved domestically.

Shipcalls, or the number of vessels that docked in ports, climbed by seven percent to 664,817 in 2025 from 621,374 in 2024.

The PPA attributed the spike in shipcalls to expansion projects that it has undertaken to scale up port capacity.

Further, roll-on, roll-off (Roro) traffic ballooned by 13 percent to 12.81 million vehicles in 2025, as travelers depended on Roro ships to transfer goods around the archipelago.

For 2026, the PPA projects a six-percent increase in Roro traffic.