President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Indonesia President Joko Widodo of Indonesia successfully launched the Davao-General Santos-Bitung ASEAN Roll-on Roll-off (RoRo) shipping route to promote trade and commerce between both countries.
In his speech, President Duterte said the same route was used by pre-colonial Filipinos in trading with neighboring countries.
“During the past decades, we have strengthened our formation of the network between sister cities that promote meaningful bonds among its people,” he said. “As I open this new maritime trade route, we reaffirm our ties with each other and commit ourselves for aspirations of a larger ASEAN community.”
The RoRo project involved the Philippine cities of Davao and General Santos to be connected to the Indonesian port of Bitung. The project will be one of the new shipping routes of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
“This route shall be the first of many routes that will form the international RoRo network. It envisions providing greater accessibility and opening more opportunities for our countries.”
President Duterte also expressed his gratitude to President Widodo in this venture which expects to connect the country to the rest of the ASEAN but also to ‘integrate our respective target archipelagos with the rest of the region.’
“We are proof that by opening new ports and exploring possible routes, we will stimulate trade, tourism and other areas of development among ASEAN countries.”
M/V Super Shuttle RoRo 12, operated by Asian Marine Transport Corporation will provide a weekly shipping service to the route with a vessel capacity of 500 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).
Its opening will significantly reduce the shipping time of transported goods from the usual Manila to Jakarta to Bitung route that would take up to five weeks to just two to three days.
A savings of up to $ 1,500 (Php 74,000) per TEU is estimated in using this route given its $700 (Php 34,713) per TEU rate per 20 feet dry container as compared to using the Davao-GenSan to Manila to Manado via Jakarta route which amounts to $2,200 (Php 109,098) per TEU.
“This lower significant cost of transportation will dive competition, attract new players and increase demands to jobs. This will not just strengthen intra-regional maritime connectivity among ASEAN networks. It is also to introduce new opportunities for trade expansion within markets outside the region,” the Filipino president said.
Among the goods identified by the private sector in Mindanao that will be shipped to Indonesia are animal feeds, fertilizer, construction materials, ice cream products, poultry (halal), fresh fruits and synthetics.
