For Lower Food Prices! Gov’t Must Take Over Critical Ferry Routes

For days now, I had been receiving desperate messages from truckers plying the Mindanao-Visayas-Luzon Route who had been stranded at the ports connecting Mindanao to Leyte and Samar to Sorsogon.

A few months ago, the issue was the lone line of trucks waiting to be accomodated in the few ferry boats connecting Matnog, Sorsogon to Allen or Dapdap, Samar.

Naayos ang Matnog issue, thanks to Sec. Arthur Tugade of the Dept. of Transportation and the Sorsogon LGU pero this week, the same problem occurred in San Ricardo, Leyte, one of the two ports connecting the Visayas to Lipata, Surigao del Norte in Mindanao.

These ports are actually part of the Pan-Philippine Highway built by President Marcos to facilitate the transport of goods from Mindanao to Luzon and vice versa.

Pero itong mga inter-island connections had been the major problems in the efficient transport of goods which actually results in higher transport costs which ultimately jacks up the prices of consumer products.

Minsan, kung kulang ang karga ng mga lumang ferry, maghihintay hanggang mapuno at kung minsan na marami ang mga trucks at sasakyan, the extortionists come in demanding money from truckers of up to P15,000 just to be accomodated.

Dapat lutasin na itong problemang ito. HIndi puedeng pabayaan na manatili sa mga inefficient and vintage Ferry Boats ang mga rotang ito.

Government must come in and invest in modern and faster ferry boats.

There is a shipyard in Balamban, Cebu which is building huge and modern ferry boats, one of which, Fjord FSTR, was built for Fjord Line by Austal Philippines.

The 109-meter catamaran ferry, could accommodate 1,200 passengers and over 400 cars, and is now operating between Denmark and Norway.

Dapat mag-invest ang ating gobyerno dito at gumawa ng isang government-owned and controlled corporation na mag-operate ng mga modernong Ferry Fleets sa mga missionary routes.

Puede namang magpagawa ang gobyerno ng 8 units of these type of Ferry Boats, maybe smaller than Fjord FSTR, and deploy four each for the Matnog, Sorsogon-Allen, Samar and Liloan, Leyte-Lipata, Surigao del Norte Routes.

Then, fixed ang schedule, say every two hours, aalis sa puerto may karga o wala. Hindi ito puede gawin ng pribadong shipping company at gobyerno lang ang puede dito.

This would efficiently facilitate the movement of goods and people and lower the cost of transport which in turn would provide our consumers with affordable goods.

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

(Photos of Fjord FSTR were downloaded from the website of Austal Philippines.)