Indonesia, Philippines Launch Shipping Route

• Apr 30, 2017

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and Philippine President RodrigoDuterte on Sunday (30/4) launched a ferry route between the two countries.

The roll-on, roll-off (roro) ferry is set to ply the Davao-General Santos-Bitung route. With the launch of the service, both leaders expected a boost in trade.

Jokowi said said the trade between the two countries would increase with the new route, which is expected to cut shipping time of goods from 5 weeks to 2-3 days.

“This is an important milestone. It will cut the amount of time for the transportation of goods between the two regions from 5 weeks to 2 days. This launch is happening at a favorable time. Last year, trade between our 2 countries increased by more than 30% from the year before,” Jokowi said.

In the meantime, commenting on this, Duterte said: “This route shall be the first of many routes to be formed for the international RoRo network envisioned by our ASEAN leaders to provide more accessibility and opportunities for our countries.”

“I once again thank President Widodo, the Government of Indonesia and our private partners for helping us make this first ASEAN Roll-On, Roll-Off route possible. Let this event serve as a reminder that our relationship is not just between trade partners, but between friends that are tied together by a bond that transcends borders,” he added.

For the record, goods from Mindanao island in the Philippines such as animal feeds, fertilizer, construction materials, ice cream products, poultry, fresh fruits, and synthetics would be among those shipped to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, mmports from Indonesia include matured coconut, copra, corn, feed ingredients, lumber, cement, high value crops, vegetables, meat, peanuts, aqua products, charcoal, soya, coffee beans, and sugar.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2017/04/30/056870936/Indonesia-Philippines-Launch-Shipping-Route