PH domestic merchant vessels up 14% in 2015

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ID-100331829The Philippines’ domestic fleet increased 14% to 25,063 sea vessels in 2015 from 22,034 vessels in 2014, latest data from the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) showed.

Of the total, the merchant fleet accounted for 12,021 vessels with an aggregate of 2.521 million gross revenue tons (GRT), while the remaining 13,042 were fishing boats with a total of 420,880.99 GRT, according to Marina.

Broken down, the merchant fleet consisted of 7,387 passenger ships, 3,476 cargo vessels, 722 tugs, 257 tankers, 34 dredgers, 26 speed boats, 20 special purpose ships, and 99 miscellaneous vessels.

RBL Fishing Corporation remained the top domestic shipping operator in terms of number of vessels with 108 ships as of December 2015. Following closely were Asian Shipping Corporation (ASC) with 103 ships and Irma Fishing & Trading, Inc. with 98 vessels. In fourth and fifth places were Tuna Explorers, Inc. and Universal Canning, Inc. with 79 and 78 vessels, respectively.

In terms of GRT, Asian Marine Transport Corp. remained the top domestic operator with a total of 126,386.25 GRT, followed by ASC with 120,298.66 GRT. Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. was third with 111,126.52 GRT, while SMC Shipping and Lighterage Corp. came in fourth place with 73,077.12 GRT.

Oceanic Container Lines, Inc. placed fifth with 71,837 GRT, followed by 2Go Group, Inc. with 67,724.98 GRT. Next were Solid Shipping Lines, Inc. (40,812.53 GRT) and Carlos A. Gothong Lines, Inc. (39,192.71 GRT).

Rounding up the top 10 were Lorenzo Shipping Corp. with 38,352 GRT and Caprotec Corp. with 30,722 GRT.

Overseas vessels

The number of Philippine-registered overseas vessels slightly rose 1.7% to 118 in 2015 from 116 in 2014. Marina has been aiming for the country to be an attractive ship registry.

Of the total, 64 were bulk carriers, 26 general cargo, 15 tankers, eight livestock carriers, two container carriers, two multipurpose dry carriers, and one dry cargo vessel.

Registered overseas shipping companies under Marina Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 181, meanwhile, reached 65 companies, while accredited maritime companies under MC No. 186 totaled 478 as of January 2016.

MC 181 lists the qualifications for accrediting shipping companies which plan to acquire ships to be registered under the Philippine flag or operate Philippine-registered ships for international voyages, while MC 186 provides the rules for accrediting maritime enterprises.

Marina earlier reported that it recorded 9,981 ship registrations in 2015, or 36.8% higher than the 7,296 target and 23.7% up from 2014’s registration total of 8,071.

The agency also issued a total of 43,868 certificates, permits, and licenses last year, which is 28.6% more than the 34,119 target for the year, but 27% less than the 60,104 registered in 2014.

Last year, Marina issued 1,249 certificates of public convenience (CPCs) to shipping companies, 71% up from the target of 730 firms and 18% higher than the 1,059 CPCs granted in 2014.

Last year too was the first full year that Marina implemented its special processing window/express lane (SPWEL) that speeds up the processing of permits for vessel imports and encourages investments in the local shipping industry.

READ: MARINA sets up permanent fast lane for vessel import permits

SPWEL was made a permanent facility in late 2014. – Roumina Pablo

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