Iloilo City to welcome first int’l shipping carrier

By Rjay Castor

Import and export services are expected to witness growth in the city and the province as the Iloilo Commercial Port Complex in Iloilo City is set to welcome the berthing of the first international container carrier’s anchor to its waters on Saturday, July 22.

The cargo vessel making the port call is the Regional Container Lines (RCL), a Thai-based container shipping line and feeder operator.

Marlon Isah de Guzman, RCL Group general manager, said their vessel is the cargo carrier that will have the first international voyage from Iloilo to a foreign port.

“As an international shipping line, we are basically connecting Iloilo to the rest of the world. This is the farm-to-market road by the seas for Iloilo,” he said.

He added that this would result in smoother exports and imports, leading to cost reductions in the logistics of transported goods and making products more affordable.

RCL’s South Philippines Service 6 (RSP6), through its southern Philippine agent, Eagle Express Lines, will bring an 889-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) Singapore-flagged vessel to Iloilo.

The vessel will follow a two-week rotation that includes stops at Singapore, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga.

Guzman said the voyage is also expected to place Iloilo on the international shipping map, boosting revenue collection and enhancing trade facilitation at the port.

“Lahat ng export natin pwede na ngayon via Singapore rather than going to the domestic carriers… From Singapore, global kasi yung pwede niyang i-connect. It is the biggest transhipment hub in the world,” he explained.

The Singapore port is one of the world’s biggest bunkering facilities and the busiest container transshipment hub, offering maritime trade connectivity with 600 seaports in over 100 countries.

“We’ve seen the growth of Iloilo and sayang lang kasi merong pang potential. The potential, we are trying to bridge that gap by bringing in our vessel… Marami pang ibang opportunities na nakikita natin, except that hindi pa lang naka in place,” he added.

Gonzaga said the voyage will initially import rice from Vietnam to Iloilo.

“We are looking at the other items like the construction materials because construction is booming in Iloilo,” he added.

He recalled that RCL initially discussed negotiation with the Philippine Ports Authority-Iloilo (PPA) and the local government at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas welcomed the RCL’s vessel port call to ICPC and said the city government is fully supportive of the development.

“I am very happy that this has finally come to fruition. We have worked so hard for this and we welcome this milestone in the economy of Iloilo. This is the start of a new level in Iloilo’s economy,” he told Daily Guardian.

DTI-6 officer-in-charge director Ermelinda P. Pollentes said this development partly addresses the logistics challenges of the region’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) exporters.

“Our MSMEs especially those in the product sector, […] they can really group together and have one container probably,” she added, encouraging MSMEs to take advantage of the transportation infrastructure available through Iloilo.