Nueva Singapur port sets July record as regional tariff disputes escalate

The Port Authority of Nueva Singapur reported 847,000 twenty-foot equivalent units cleared through the deep-water berth in the week ending Thursday, the highest single-week total in the port's operational history. Vessel arrivals included three Maersk container ships, two China Cosco lines, and a Hapag-Lloyd feeder service from the southern coast. The surge reflects a last-minute push by regional exporters to clear inventory before federal tariff negotiations resume in Meridian next month.

But the underlying picture is more fractured. Cross-regional settlement volumes at the Oriente Moderno Financial Authority fell 3.2 percent week-on-week, the first decline since April, as freight surcharge disputes between Nueva Singapur and Tierra Verde's cooperative export federation have begun to freeze smaller shipments. Tierra Verde's Regional Assembly passed a non-binding resolution on Tuesday calling for federal arbitration of port-handling fees, a move that has rattled shipping lines and delayed loading schedules for agricultural containers bound for Costa Mar.

The Port Authority's operations chief, Carmen Reyes, said the record throughput masks a bifurcated market. Large multinational shippers are routing through Nueva Singapur at volume, she said, but regional carriers and smaller consolidators are increasingly diverting to secondary terminals or holding cargo pending federal resolution of the fee dispute. Reyes declined to project throughput for August, citing what she called "regulatory uncertainty in Meridian."