The Department of Transportation and Communications’ (DoTC) bid to promote the roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) type of inter-island shipping gets a big boost as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated Monday in Calapan City the 919-kilometer RO-RO shipping lane dubbed as the “Strong Republic Nautical Highway” (SRNH). The SRNH covers 17 cities, towns and islands that will reduce by 17 hours the travel time using the usual land and sea routes.
Following the inauguration is the three-day presidential caravan that kicked off Tuesday from the Batangas port to Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao passing through the Calapan, Roxas (Mindoro), Caticlan, Iloilo, Bacolod and Dapitan corridor. The President is accompanied in the caravan by the members of her Cabinet and other government officials.
The SRNH is designed to move faster both goods and people between and among the islands of the archipelago. They include Batangas City, Calapan and Roxas in Mindoro Oriental, Iloilo City, Caticlan and Boracay in Aklan, Bacolod City, Dumaguete in Negros Oriental and Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte.
The highway is expected to spur trade in the countryside, provide an alternative route to the Pan Philippine Highway and also provide a more economical means of transportation for travelers, entrepreneurs, farmers, as well as regular domestic commuters.
Mendoza said the project is in response to the thrust of the Arroyo administration for the reduction of logistical costs while at the same time elevating to international standards the port’s level of facilities and services as embodied in the President’s eight-point agenda.
Along this line, Mendoza added, the DoTC through the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), adopts a strategy that secures the continued improvement of the major gateways along the promotion of RO-RO network that integrates the entire archipelago.
He said that the RO-RO transport system is expected to bridge the islands, and consequently, open new markets in the areas of tourism and trade.
The major gateways are those ports, which lie along the major trade routes and control about 70 percent of trade.
It includes the North and South Harbors and the Manila International Container Terminal, Batangas, Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Davao and General Santos.
Meanwhile, DoTC spokesperson Gen. Thompson Lantion said the Pan Philippine Highway Ferry Terminals, the Western Seaboard Intermodal Transport System and the Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan (MIMAROPA) and the Trans-Visayas Systems serve as the backbone of the country’s RO-RO networks.
In particular, he said, the Pan Philippine Highway Ferry Terminals is composed of Matnog/San Isidro/Allen to Liloan, Lipata links.
On the other hand, the Western Seaboard Intermodal Transport System that is now the SRNH, connects the islands of Luzon to Mindoro, Panay, Guimaras, Negros and Mindanao through Batangas, Calapan, Roxas, Caticlan, Iloilo, Jordan, San Lorenzo, Pulupandan, Dumaguete and Dapitan.
These are complemented by the Taytay-Cuyo-Caticlan/Cuyo-San Jose-Buenavista route, which enables Palawan to be integrated with the network.
These ports will primarily serve as the links between their respective hinterlands and those of the major gateways, Lantion said. (PNA)
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