THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) provided students access to the country’s major terminals, aiming to link classroom theory with the realities of global trade.
PPA’s Port Educational Tour program, which has expanded significantly between 2023 and 2025, now operates across nearly all regional Port Management Offices, including Davao, Zamboanga and NCR. The tours target senior high school and college students.
PPA General Manager Jay Santiago noted that the initiative is designed to build a workforce that understands the mechanics of the national economy. “Education is a cornerstone of nation-building,” Santiago said, emphasizing that port visits help students grasp the scale of maritime connectivity.
The tours provide a ground-level view of port infrastructure. Groups of 30 to 100 students undergo safety briefings before observing vessel berthing, cargo handling, and passenger terminal operations. In ports like Davao and Cagayan de Oro, students from Indigenous communities and maritime academies met with personnel to discuss the technical aspects of preventing supply chain delays.
Student participants reported that the visits clarified the role of ports as essential hubs for both foreign goods and local exports. For many, the tours served as a practical introduction to career paths in the maritime industry beyond traditional seafaring.
By moving beyond Manila South Harbor and the Manila International Container Terminal, the PPA has made these technical tours a standard part of its operations nationwide, coordinating directly with schools to align the visits with academic curricula.