MARITIME WATCHKEEPER

Even before the President launched her Strong Republic Nautical Highway, Dumagueteños and Negrenses already had the opportunity of travelling to Cebu and back, either by driving to Cebu by way of a barge service in Tampi in San Jose, Negros Oriiental, connecting to barangay Bato in Samboan town in Cebu, or by taking a pumpboat from Sibulan town in Negros Oriental which connects with Liloan in Santander town in Cebu.

This has proven to be a very fast, economical and wonderful way to travel to Cebu, considering the high price of a one-way ticket on board the fastcrafts, which take about the same time or even longer, considering that they have to pass by Tagbilaran City. (more…)

“Aboitiz’s Super Ferry, the ships of Sulpicio Lines and Negros Navigation (Nenaco) are, figuratively speaking, being bombed out of the water by the airfares war.”

Allowing the agencies regulating our shipping industry to be under some kind of regulatory capture is more the culprit to the sad plight of shipowners, rather than the “air fare wars” that have resulted from the liberalization of the airline industry.  Just like in the telecoms industry, competition brings about efficiency in operations.

One way of validating the claims reported on by the Manila Times story “Bombing Aboitiz, Sulpicio and Negros out of the water” is for MARINA to pore into the financial statements of the shipping companies and try to “unbundle” the costs, much like the unbundling of costs in the power distribution service.  This was already ordered by the President a few years back, but the MARINA has lied its way on the figures reported to the President.

The more plausible explanation for the demise of our shipping industry could be the observations of former Congressman Willie Villarama.  Click here for “Good governance in ports and shipping”

We should get to the bottom of this issue or else we end up in the Book of Records or Ripley’s for having the most efficient airline operations in the world!