Contecon Manzanillo S.A. de C.V. (CMSA), the Mexican subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) at the Port of Manzanillo, recently achieved its first year-to-date, four-millionth 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) milestone even as the company embarks on expansion works to increase capacity.

Fortino Landeros, CMSA chief executive officer, affirms that this milestone confirms CMSA’s efforts to improve its processes for its customers and port stakeholders: “We are proud of reaching this latest milestone. More than hitting our targets, this new record demonstrates Contecon Manzanillo’s capability to continuously outpace market growth, and readiness in building a strategic gateway for trans-Pacific trade — making our terminal one of the fastest growing gateways in the Americas.”

He adds: “These achievements are possible thanks to our customers, the Manzanillo port authority, but more especially to our passionate, humble and committed workforce.”

CMSA’s recent milestone comes at a time of continued investments by ICTSI to expand Mexico’s largest trading gateway in the Pacific and improve fluidity at the port. The company recently embarked on a MXN2.5-million second phase expansion of the terminal’s yards and entry and exit gates, and investments in cutting-edge technology and training of its personnel.

Landeros says: “We are very pleased to announce these additional investments aimed at securing Manzanillo’s position as Mexico’s leading maritime gateway. Along with further investments in port equipment and systems, we continue to work hand-in-hand with our customers to improve the efficiency of our operations and processes, and inevitably make their experience a more pleasant one.”

Once completed, this increases Contecon’s capacity by up to 50 percent, from 1.2-million TEU at present to 1.6-million TEU by 2020 — giving substantial flexibility to absorb the projected increase in cargo volume at Manzanillo’s largest port.

Complementing these landside improvements will be two more quay cranes and five yard cranes that are scheduled to arrive by the fourth quarter of 2019. This places Contecon as the only terminal in Manzanillo fully-equipped to service the largest vessels plying intra-Pacific routes.

Agencies, LGU join GSIS new loan program bandwagon

State pension fund Government Service Insurance System has started a nationwide caravan for the expanded GSIS financial assistance loan (GFAL) program or GFAL II for non-DepEd agencies and local government units (LGU).

This was announced by chairman and officer in Charge Rolando Ledesma Macasaet following the signing of an agreement between the GSIS and the City Government of San Juan on Tuesday to implement GFAL for about 1,000 members.

“Since the launch of GFAL II last July 29, a total of 30 agencies and local government units have signed up agreements with the pension fund to enable their employees to enjoy its benefits of lower interest rate of 6 percent per annum and longer repayment period of six years,” Macasaet said.

In the coming months, the pension fund is set to ink pacts with about a hundred remitting partner agencies and LGU across the country for the GFAL offering.

“The GFAL program is GSIS’s response to the call of President Duterte to help free government employees from the clutches of lending institutions who practice schemes such as ‘5-6,’ which are often tied with hefty double-digit interest rates,” Macasaet added.

GFAL is the balance-transfer and debt-consolidation facility of the GSIS helping active GSIS members settle their outstanding loan obligations with lending institutions.

Originally offered to teaching and nonteaching personnel of the Department of Education, the program has been extended to the rest of GSIS members effective 27 July 2019.

The University of the Philippines has ramped up its bid to become the most innovative university in the Philippines with the release of the new UP ID powered by PayMaya.

Through the new ID initially released for employees of the UP system, faculty and staff can easily gain access to the various facilities of the university, use it for daily attendance records, as well as use the ID’s payment feature to pay for food, services, and other items within the university.

The new UP ID will also be released to students of UP Diliman soon. UP president Danilo Concepcion (middle) was the first to receive his new UP ID from PayMaya founder and CEO Orlando Vea (2nd from left) during simple turnover rites at the UP president’s Office in Diliman, Quezon City.

Also present during the ceremony were UP executive vice president Teodoro Herbosa (2nd from right), UP vice president for development Elvira Zamora (rightmost) and PayMaya senior enterprise manager Tisha Quinitio (leftmost).