New shipping route boosts Phl-Indonesia trade flow

The Department of Trade and Industry ( DTI) expects the opening of the shipping route within the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines- East ASEAN Growth Area ( BIMP- EAGA) to boost trading between the Philippines and Indonesia.

The agency said a roll- on roll- off (RoRo) ferry service will start plying the Davao City- Gen. Santos- Bitung, Indonesia route on April 28 this year to provide a faster and cheaper channel of trading goods among EAGA’s key cities.

M/V Super Shuttle RoRo 14, operated by the Asian Marine Transport Corp., will provide a weekly shipping service to the route with a vessel capacity of 100 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

“These developments in the sub-region complement the ongoing regional efforts towards realizing the ASEAN Economic Community 2025. It will help increase economic cooperation and will pave way for the promotion of Philippine products especially those coming from the Mindanao region,” DTI Undersecretary Nora Terrado said.

According to the DTI, the opening of the route is seen as a more cost and time-efficient alternative to the usual Manila- Jakarta- Bitung route, which would take about three to five weeks of shipping time.

Direct shipping through the DavaoGenSan-Bitung route, on the other hand, will take only one day- and- a- half of sailing, excluding port stay, the agency added.

DTI said savings of up to $ 1,500 (P74,000) per TEU is estimated in using the new route given its $700 (P34,713) per TEU rate per 20 feet dry container as compared to using the Davao-Gen. Santos to Manila to Manado via Jakarta route which amounts to $2,200 (P109,098) per TEU.

The agency said among the goods identified by the private sector in Mindanao to be shipped to Indonesia are animal feeds, fertilizer, construction materials, ice cream products, poultry (halal), fresh fruits, and synthetics.

The initial list of import goods, on the other hand, include matured coconut, copra, corn, feed ingredients, lumber, cement, high value crops, vegetables, meat, peanuts, aqua products, charcoal, soya, coffee beans and sugar.

In a 2012 feasibility study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Gensan-Bitung route was selected one of the pilot areas for a RoRo operation within BIMP-EAGA.

The study also indicated the route can be dedicated to a freight service once shipping service requirements are in place.