Chelsea Logistics boosting fleet, getting Ro-ro vessel from Japan

Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. is acquiring a new roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel to meet growing demand in Visayas and Mindanao, a stock exchange filing showed on Tuesday.

Through Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc., the company signed a 10-year bareboat charter deal with Southern Pacific Holding Corp., a subsidiary of Japan’s Kumiai Senpaku Co., Ltd.

The deal involves a 123-meter Ro-Ro vessel with a gross register tonnage of 8,800. A bareboat charter is a lease agreement for a vessel with no crew and provisions.

Chelsea said the vessel would be built at Fukuoka Shipyard in Japan.

Classified by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK), it will carry a total of 1,085 passengers, 24 buses, and 11 trucks. Delivery is slated in June 2021.

“Every sealed partnership is a reason for us to celebrate and look forward to a promising future not only for the business, but also for the Filipinos who need more reliable, more efficient, and safer shipping and logistics,” Chelsea president and CEO Chryss Alfonsus V. Damuy said in a statement.

The company previously signed a separate charter deal with Kumiai Senpaku for the vessel with Hull No. 1191 which would be delivered in April 2020.

Chelsea is a shipping and logistics company controlled by Davao-based businessman Dennis A. Uy.

The company is also diversifying into infrastructure. It made a P24-billion unsolicited bid for the Davao Sasa Port and a P48-billion offer for the Davao International Airport. Moreover, the company is a shareholder of Dito Telecommunity, a telco that was given a license to operate last July.