Making the dream a reality

The Philippines continues to be hounded by sea mishaps that involve wooden-hulled boats and over-35-year-old second-hand vessels that are merely retrofitted, and mostly non-classed and allowed to ply rough coastal waters.

A few months ago, a motorized boat sunk off Gumaca, Quezon that resulted in the death of three passengers. There was no storm warning at that time, just strong waves which apparently damaged the wooden hull and sunk the boat.

While initial investigations blamed the mishap to overloading, the fact remains that the boat was susceptible to strong waves, causing it to sink—which shows how inept our regulatory standards are in allowing substandard sea-going vessels to ferry people on interisland journeys.

Despite a long history of sea mishaps on inter-island voyages involving small passenger vessels, rarely if any has there been an insightful report by the official investigation body.

Filipino ship owners’ practice of  buying second-hand (often junked) vessels from abroad and having them retrofitted (mainly by adding one or two floors to be able to accommodate more passengers) have largely been ignored by regulators. This is definitely not world-class standard.

Doing it right

While the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) chooses not to do anything to correct the practice, including allowing the continued use of wooden-hulled boats, a growing number of industry stakeholders  are seeing the wisdom of doing things right.

Southwest Maritime Group of Companies president and CEO Arben Santos, a true-blue Atenean and shipping man at heart, is one of those who have seen the light years ago, and who has persistently campaigned for reforms — but more importantly, elected to do something to solve the problem.

He was one of the ship owners/operators who successfully worked for the government to require oil companies to use only double-hulled vessels to carry petroleum products after a series of big accidents involving the sea transport of oil products.

Yes, this required additional expenses for bulk carriers of petroleum products, but it was well worth the effort in terms of negating accidents that result in loss of property and lives as well as posing grave danger to the environment.

RORO modernization

Following some initial success to upgrade the maritime sector, Arben pursued his dream of modernizing the industry, specifically the sector servicing thousands of inter-island travelers over coastal waters.

These days, Arben has his eyes on being a dominant mover towards modernizing the country’s roll on, roll off (RORO) shipping industry. While continuing to persuade Marina to adopt necessary measures, such as curbing the importation of 35-year-old second-hand vessels, Arben has also embarked on a private sector-led RORO modernization program.

When many ship owners balked at the cost of modernizing their RORO fleets, Arben persisted by finding ways to make his latest dream become a reality. To date, he has already convinced quite a number of ship owners, including the Starlite Ferries Inc. group chaired by Alfonso Cusi.

The Starlite Ferries group has been in the coastal/ferry business for almost two decades. For a long time, the group had been using aged second-hand or retrofitted vessels imported from Japan.

Two years ago, the management of Starlite was on the verge of importing additional aged second-hand vessels to expand their fleet. This was when Southwest Maritime management headed by Arben convinced Starlite Ferries to stop investing in old second-hand vessels.

The two groups collaborated for what is to become to this day the most ambitious private sector-led RO-RO modernization action plan to develop, evolve, and convince parties of the feasibility of their ambitious program.

Critical initial steps

Both Arben and Al started by commissioning a ship design that would meet local coastal area shipping conditions, a very important move since most ships made abroad were fitted to their distinct local coastal and weather peculiarities.

They then convinced the Development Bank of the Philippines to help promote and develop the growth of the local shipping industry by opening sources of funds. Simultaneously, discussions were held to convince local banks to extend loans/financing and bankroll local business entities willing to invest in this relatively new venture of buying brand new RORO vessels.

Armed with extensive experience and knowledge of Japanese shipbuilders (Japanese builders are well-known for high quality standards in ship building), Arben initiated negotiation for competitive quotes.

With the assistance of Shuwa Kaiun Kaisya, Ltd., and Chiba Marine Yokohama Co., Ltd., he was able to identify Kegoya Dock Co., Ltd. and Fukushima Zosen as the preferred builders of these brand new RORO-type passenger ferry.

A bank that believes

Philippine Business Bank (PBB), headed by chairman Fred Yao, was the first local private commercial bank to join the RORO modernization program initiated by Arben’s group. The bank believes the program, which is the first concrete step undertaken by the private sector to provide a safer water transport system to thousands of Filipinos travelling daily from one island to another, deserves financial support.

Not only will the loss of lives and damage to properties be minimized, but travelers can likewise enjoy amenities not presently available in old retrofitted and wooden hulled boats. PBB intends to be involved as loan provider for future orders of new RORO type vessels.

Shaping up

The dream of having brand-new RORO ferries servicing the needs of passengers and vehicles going from one island to another thus slowly became reality.

A year after the Southwest Maritime and Starlite Ferries program was hatched, in November 2015, “Starlite Pioneer” was delivered by ship builder Kegoya Dock. The first brand-new RORO is now plying the Roxas to Caticlan/Boracay route.

The second brand-new vessel, “Starlite Reliance,” was also built by Kegoya Dock Company and delivered to owners last April 12. The vessel was registered at the Batangas port and now augments the servicing of the Roxas-Caticlan route.

“Starlite Eagle,” the third brand-new vessel built by Fukushima Zosen at Matsue City, Japan, will serve the Batangas to Calapan route upon arrival and completion of registration process. The fourth vessel named “Starlite Saturn,” coming from Kegoya Dock in Kure City, Japan, is expected to be completed and delivered by end June this year and will service the Cebu to Ormoc route.

Upon completion of the delivery of above, which comprise the first batch of brand new passenger ROROs, and conclusion of ongoing talks, the management team of Southwest Maritime group of companies headed by Arben Santos is poised to have management and operating control of this fleet of brand-new passenger RORO vessels--a dream two years ago, now a reality which Arben and his group can bask in.

Marina must now act

A group of shipping men with a pioneering spirit and a determined desire to do something concrete for their industry has initiated moves to modernize a specific sector, albeit a small one, of the large domestic maritime industry.

Being a country composed of hundreds of islands and an economy that depends on water transport to move goods and people, there are still a number of critical areas to be upgraded and reformed to bring our maritime industry to world class level.

Marina, one of the lead agencies looking after sea transport, particularly vessels that ply coastal waters, must now act under this newly elected government. It can start by showing government support to a private sector initiative by issuing the necessary administrative orders to implement needed reforms, and ensure this journey to modernize the local maritime industry starting with RORO passenger vessels and will not be hampered by bureaucratic inaction and lack of political will.

When there is the will to change, change will come.

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