DAVAO CITY-The goal of cheaper movement of goods and people between Indonesia and the Philippines will be realized this month with the opening of the Mindanao-North Sulawesi Sea route, according to the head of Malacanang's development unit for the country's south.
Luwalhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda), said the opening of the Davao-General Santos-Tahuna-Bitung sea route this month will boost trade and economic ties between Mindanao and North Sulawesi.
These two areas are among the targeted growth centers under the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines (Bimp) economic cooperation treaty.
She said that, before this, consumer items for North Sulawesi area have to be brought in through Jakarta. This method jacked up prices, considering that Jakarta is almost a thousand nautical miles from North Sulawesi, she added.
In contrast, Antonino said the direct sea route would only cover 350 nautical miles.
"We commend the continuous efforts of the private sector in making this route possible, which will significantly cut shipping costs and thereby allow our small and medium entrepreneurs to engage in international trading between these two points in Bimp-Eaga (East Asian Growth Area)," she said.
Antonino said the opening of the sea route was covered by the agreement signed in Jakarta on April 11 between the Indonesian shipping line PT Kanaka, the North Minahasa Chamber of Commerce of Indonesia, Philippine-based cargo company ARREE Freight Express and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce.
"The sea route has expanded to include Tahuna, a fishing and trading center in Sangir Talaud group of islands in the province of North Sulawesi, situated in between Bitung and General Santos City,"she said.
Dr. Malou Monteverde, former Davao chamber president, said PT Kanaka will provide shipping services to the route with conventional cargo-type vessel with a 120 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity. ARREE Freight Express on the other hand will handle the cargo consolidation requirements for the shipping route, she said.
"We have always looked into this route as one of the cheapest and fastest ways to transport goods from Mindanao to Indonesia, and vice versa," Monteverde said.
She said the vessel was expected to ply the route twice a month and will ferry canned beverage, fresh and dried tropical fruits, processed coconut, corn feeds, construction supplies, meat, poultry and fish products from the Philippines to North Sulawesi.
Minda said a study made by the Research Education and Institutional Development (Reid) Foundation in 2010 cited that the North Sulawesi-Mindanao Sea link "offers strong potentials for international trade and commerce between Indonesia and the Philippines since it offers a proximate channel for the shipment of goods."
"The opening of this sea route concretizes our long-running efforts to establish a shipping link between Mindanao and North Sulawesi," Eko Hartono, Indonesian Consul General to Davao, was quoted in a Minda news release as saying.
North Sulawesi is among the 10 provinces in the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Irian Jaya that are part of the Bimp-Eaga region.
Hartono added that once fully utilized, the sea route will serve as an impetus for the reopening of the Davao-Manado air links that will boost trade and tourism links between the two key cities in the sub-region.