It is now time for the Arroyo regime to seriously consider junking its much ballyhooed ‘ Philippine nautical highway’ program that’s anchored on encouraging local shipping lines to harness roll on-roll- (RORO) ships that carry both human and ‘rolling cargo’.
It was only last September that SuperFerry 9, a RORO vessel capsized on the suspicion that water seeped into one of its ramp doors.
http://atmidfield.com/2009/09/07/ro-ro-ships-as-the-grim-reaper-the-superferry-9-tragedy/
And now comes the sinking of yet another RORP Baleno 9 off Verde Island in Batangas!!
The Coast Guard says it appears the front (bow) ramp door was the culprit, with surviving passengers saying it looked like the positioning of the ship’s 9 rolling cargo was imbalanced.
(Note Verde Island Passage inter-island shipping route)
Of course yet another board of marine inquiry is being convened to officially determine WTF happened.
But this will not reclaim the lives of the dead.
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I don’t know, Ding. The Philippines has a unique problem faced by no other country, a big, highly populated, fairly industrialized set of islands that can’t easily engage in commerce. I have no idea how gasoline gets here to my small island, Biliran, or food for that matter (sometimes it doesn’t, as there is today a chicken shortage). Most is by boat, I think, and ferry service to Cebu is critically important here. I don’t think scrapping the program is the idea. I think tighter servicing, maintenance and operating standards is in order. It seems to me the ferries have the same “I don’t care all that much” attitude that is rampant throughout most service industries.
Scrapping the ferry lines will not help that.
Joe
You don’t scrap what you can make work. The action is to make it work. Of course, to make it work is to work, and maybe that is the problem. The requirement is to make Pinoys-in-Pinas work — diligently and consistently — so what can work works.
NoyNoy released a statement about the recent ferry sinkings. He did say this:
Now he also said this:
Wait… maybe this is what he said.
The Philippines cannot afford to buy new transportation ships. So,
they rely on second hand ships, or even third hand ships. Most of them are not seaworthy. They dont sell good secong hand used ships. They sell
only junks. And most of the time, they sink.
Second-hand ships that are in excellent shape are available, but not at the price that Pinas shipping operators are willing to pay.
Now, I believe that the second-hand ships that Pinas operators buy are seaworthy, but the ships deteriorate very fast because Pinas operators do not maintain the ships. No different than changing a car’s engine oil every hundred-thousand-kilometers when the requirement is to change engine oil every 6,500 kilometers.
Then, Pinas ship owners do not operate to standards. Poorly-trained crew do not know how to help passengers during emergencies. Not enough life vests are available, and the life vests are under lock and key during the voyage, so many more die when the ships sink.
FreeSince09 is correct. Make sure that the ships are maintained well and have better-trained crew.
Yeah maintenance,but are we following the law about aging of the vessels?
kahit sa Kotse there is no such concept as aging sa pinas.Basta umaandar pa at pwede pang pagtyagaan sige,Go.
Dito yata meant for decommissioning na binibili pa natin.
Costs,costs,costs.
Yang roro na yan dapat makatulong yan sa costs ng pagtransport ng goods from mindanao to luzon.
Passenger/ cargo vessels continue to exist because of costs of having a fleet of separate vessels strictly for cargo and strictly for passengers .
Cost of a person’s life (multiplied by the thousands) ang problema sa cost cutting na yan.
many things to consider,but abandoning the roro concept may not be THE solution for our years of sea tragedies.
Please no more senate investigations regarding maritime tragedies.(madaming maritime bills na nasa bodega)
Just make sure that the ships are actually working, enforce better discipline and oh right.