ASEAN RORO launch to hasten regional trade, integration

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RoroMember states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stand to benefit in various ways once the ASEAN Highway Network (AHN) is completed.

Also dubbed the “ASEAN RORO (roll on/roll off) Initiative,” the regional project aims to form an interstate road network interconnecting the Southeast Asian countries with the goal of providing easy access to key markets and reducing transport costs.

Such connectivity is projected to benefit all ASEAN countries through enhanced trade, investment, tourism, and development, according to Dr. Enrico Basilio, chief of party of the United States Agency for International Development-Advancing Philippine Competitiveness (USAID-COMPETE) project, during a presentation at the 2nd International Conference on Agricultural and Rural Development in Southeast Asia (ARD2014) held recently in Makati City.

Basilio recalled that the RORO project has been identified as one of the strategies for maritime connectivity and is included among the 15 ASEAN flagship projects for 2011-2015.

The Philippines and Indonesia have been designated as “co-shepherds” of the implementation of the maritime and land road network project. The program is in line with the 2007 ASEAN Economic Community blueprint that calls for the ASEAN’s transformation into a single market and production base and a highly competitive region fully integrated into the global economy.

The first RORO route—the Davao-General Santos City-Bitung (in northern Indonesia)—was envisioned to be launched late last year, but the kickoff was held off to make way for Indonesia’s elections. A new date is being worked out.

RORO, as described by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is a mode of shipping designed to carry rolling cargoes that do not require cranes for loading or off-loading (cars, buses, trucks, chassis-mounted containers) because they simply roll on and off a RORO ship.

“RORO eliminates cargo-handling labor and equipment and reduces the amount of time required to be in a port which can lead to considerable reductions in sea transport cost and improvement in service quality,” ADB stated.

RORO is not a new transport technology and is actually widely used in Europe. There are 21 RORO links in East Asia linking Japan, Korea, and China. “In the Philippines, there is an extensive RORO network,” Basilio noted.

President Benigno Aquino III, as quoted by Basilio, said: “Once it is implemented, ASEAN connectivity will bridge our nation to our neighbors, shorten transfer distances, and open more economic opportunities for our people.”

Aquino, during the 2013 Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) meeting, said that the Philippines was looking forward to the ASEAN RORO initiative.

Aquino further stressed that the completion of the project is “especially important in light of BIMP-EAGA’s goal to become the region’s food basket, which would involve enhancing agribusiness and the export of agricultural products.”