Three RORO Companies Now In The Cebu To Surigao Route

Very recently, there are now three RORO companies vying in the route from Cebu to Surigao and vice-versa and for me that is a sea-shaking event but not a tsunami. It was Medallion Transport Inc. which started this thing when they fielded their biggest ship, the Lady of Love in the said route. To be …

Maasin Port Is An “Anomaly” And So Is The City

Maasin City as a provincial capital of Southern Leyte is an ''anomaly" but this is in no way meant to insult it and its people. But there is no other provincial capital in the country where the capital is the last and furthermost locality. And that becomes a problem for the people of its towns on …

The Legacy of the Surplus Ships From Europe

After World War II, the passenger shipping companies in the Philippines started almost from scratch as the ships they had before the war were almost all lost by scuttling or through war actions (mainly by aircraft bombing and through gunfire). Like before the war, not all passenger shipping companies were created equal. Some of the …

The Biggest Shipping Company Based in Mindanao (Part 2)

If the Aleson Shipping Lines was investing in ferries, it was also investing in cargo ships matching what the No. 1 shipping company then of Mindanao, the Sampaguita Shipping Corporation was doing. Maybe there was a need for Aleson Shipping to move and push their own cargo as they are traders and distributors after all. …

When Eastern Visayas Ports And Shipping Were Still Great

Growing up I heard tales from my late father how great Tacloban port was. He told me about its importance, its physical dimensions, the location, the size of the bodegas outside it and even its relation to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. I had the idea that Tacloban was the greatest port east of Cebu and my …

The Sweet RORO

Many, when talking about the Sweet RORO of Sweet Lines Incorporated which is pf Bohol origin talk about her technicals and that is not wrong as there is nothing incorrect in admiring the technical merits of a ship especially that of a luxury liner. But to me I also tend to look at the historical …

Roble Shipping Is Finally Sailing To Mindanao

Last month, September of 2017, Roble Shipping has finally sailed to Oroquieta, the capital of the small Mindanao province of Misamis Occidental (which actually hosts a lot of ports and among them are Ozamis and Plaridel ports). It is maybe the first port of call in Mindanao ever for Roble Shipping and it is actually …

The Convergence, Parallels, Rivalry and Divergence of Sweet Lines and William Lines

For introduction, Sweet Lines is a shipping company that started in Tagbilaran, Bohol while William Lines is a shipping company started in Cebu City after the war while having earlier origins in Misamis Occidental before the war. And like many shipping lines whose founders are of Chinese extraction, the founders of both Sweet Lines and …

One of the Magic Elixirs of William Lines and Carlos A. Gothong & Co.

The term “magic elixir” refers to a potion that gives one powers and in modern usage it refers to a sort of magic that was the reason for an entity to rise. In this article I am not referring to something illegal but to one of the reasons for the rise of two of the …

Camotes Sea and Bohol Strait Are Graveyards of Failed Shipping Companies (Part 1)

The Camotes Sea and Bohol Strait are two of the busiest shipping lanes in the country. These are the seas connecting Leyte and Bohol to the trade and commercial center of the central part of the country which is Cebu. Ships from Cebu going to Samar, Masbate, Mindanao and even Luzon have to pass through …