PH to lead Asean-wide Ro-Ro connectivity

KUALA LUMPUR—The Philippines is all set to lead the Asean Ro-Ro Connectivity launch this month with the opening of the roll-on roll-off route to Indonesia, according to Asian Marine Transport Corp.

“It is confirmed that the launching of the Asean Ro-Ro Connectivity will be on Oct. 18,” the company said via e-mail.

The shipping firm is providing maritime services for the maiden route connecting Davao and General Santos City to Bitung City and Manado City in Indonesia, said Ernesto V. Tan, Asian Marine SVP and CFO.

Asian Marine will also serve the second route for Asean Ro-Ro connectivity, namely Philippines-China-Vietnam, which may be launched in 2015. The Philippine port is Batangas City, which will be connected to Humen town in China and Danang City in Vietnam.

Asian Marine will initially designate one vessel each for the Philippines-Indonesia and Philippines-China-Vietnam routes. The shipping firm may later add more to service growing traffic, Tan said.

Now that intra-Asean trade is expected to boom, the company may post a record revenue this year and next despite tight competition from other shipping firms and from airlines offering freight services, Tan said.

Asian Marine aims to breach the P1 billion mark in revenue this year, representing a 24-percent jump from 2012. For 2014, the company wants to generate P1.5 to P2 billion in revenue.

Growth will come from maximizing the use of the companies’ ships and an overall expansion of the freight business as Philippine industries expand, Tan said. The Philippine economy has been expanding more than 7 percent for the past 4 quarters. Recently, it beat expectations for the April-June period when it grew by 7.5 percent.

Asian Marine has 27 ships in its fleet, all of which can serve long-haul, rough-sea routes similar to those in the Black Sea and other parts of Northern Europe.