Indonesia-Philippines RoRo Service Up
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Monday, May 1, 2017
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday launched a ferry route that will connect the two countries.
The Davao-General Santos-Bitung roll on/roll off shipping service from Mindanao to North Sulawesi, Indonesia at the Sasa port in Davao City is launched in a bid to further boost trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.
According to local media reports, the vessel sailed off for the Davao-GenSan-Bitung sea route with initial 50 containers, five of which are flour cargoes produced by Pilmico Foods Corp.
President Duterte said the ferry service is part of the larger ASEAN RoRo Shipping Network, which “will help ASEAN member-countries realize a collective goal of creating an integrated regional market.”
This new route will shorten shipping lead time from five weeks to two and a half days, Jakarta Globe reported Jokowi as saying. "I thank President Duterte for making this project a reality and I hope the new route will be a symbol of the strong partnership between Indonesia and the Philippines," he added.