For a country of 7,500 plus islands, the Philippines has one of the most outdated sea transport systems and facilities.
In fact, the availability of cargo vessels to ferry food commodities from the islands to the urban centers like Cebu and Metro Manila is so scarce that it is more expensive to ship bananas from Mindanao to Manila than from Davao to Japan.
Fruit producers from Mindanao have to rely on forwarding companies like 2-Go to bring their products to Cebu or Metro Manila adding up to the cost and effectively jacking up the price of commodities.
During the blessing of the two Multi-Mission Offshore Vessels (MMOV) in Navotas, two months ago, I challenged Filipino shipbuilders to design cargo ships which could ferry food commodities from the different islands to the urban centers.
I cited the case of banana farmers from Mindanao who have to literally beg for space in the cargo vessels to ship their bananas to Metro Manila.
A delay of two or three days would already cause massive losses to them.
Another example is the long route taken by fish trucks from Zamboanga City to Cebu City via Zamboanga del Norte and Dumaguete City.
What are the types of vessels that we need to easily transport food products from the production areas to the market?
1. A “refrigerated” vessel which could carry fish and other marine products from places like Pag-asa Island, Palawan, Mindoro, Panay, Zamboanga, Tawi-tawi, Sulu, Surigao, Kalamansig, Davao , Batanes, Cagayan Valley and other fishing grounds to Metro Manila;
2. A multi-purpose vessel which could load refrigerated vans containing vegetables and meat products, with enough space to accommodate containers with fruits.
These vessels would very well serve the purpose in the realization of the vision of President Rody Duterte to establish Regional Food Terminals which would consolidate food products from production areas to be brought to the major urban centers for distribution.
Definitely, critics and nay-sayers will again say that this operation will not be profitable for private companies and that it would not gain the interest of investors.
If that is the case, then government should come in and operate these vessels or farmers and fisher folks who produce the food should be asked to cover for part of the cost of the operation to make it viable.
Government, after all, was established to serve, not earn profit from its operations.
So, I am reiterating my challenge to Filipino shipbuilders to submit their designs and cost estimates before the end of the First Quarter of 2018 so the funding proposal could be included in the 2019 Budget of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
This is a test of Filipino ingenuity.
(Photos show the two new BFAR vessels built by Filipino shipbuilders in the Josefa Slipway in Navotas, Metro Manila. Photos downloaded from BFAR website.)
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