Surigao City – With the launching of a daily RORO ferry service connecting the Lipata Ferry Terminal to the Port of Cabalian in San Juan, Southern Leyte, four (4) Southern Leyte ports now connects Mindanao to the rest of the country via the Eastern Nautical Highway.
Last 20 April 2023, Lite Shipping Corporation has started fielding twice-daily trips connecting San Juan, Southern Leyte to Surigao City via the Lipata Ferry Terminal using its MV Lite Ferry 30.
From the original Lipata – Liloan Visayas Mindanao link of the then Pan-Philippine Nautical Highway – the first RORO transport system in the Philippines – today’s Eastern Nautical Highway now has three (3) additional ports in Southern Leyte that offers daily RORO service to Surigao City in the northeastern tip of Mindanao namely, Padre Burgos, San Ricardo and the newly-added Cabalian.
TMO Lipata Terminal Manager Allan Yap said that the increasing number of shipcalls and passenger traffic brought about by the additional spoke ports has become more challenging to his staff. With better berth management through the extensive use of the Automatic Identification System (AIS), and “all-hands-on-deck policy” among Lipata Ferry Terminal personnel, the challenges are adequately met, Yap added.
On the other hand, PMO Surigao Acting Port Manager Froilan Caturla said that the PPA has long anticipated the need to further expand the port’s operational capability to adequately meet the rising RORO traffic. A newly-completed expansion project which expands the port’s back-up area by more than half a hectare (5,766 square meters) and a RORO Ramp measuring 1,801 square meters is now in place to meet the increasing operational requirements of the Lipata Ferry Terminal.
From 2020 (during the height of the COVID 19), RORO vehicles passing through the Lipata Ferry Terminal on a yearly basis went up from 153,275 vehicles (in 2020) to 314,640 in 2022 or a 105% increase.
The Lipata Ferry Terminal is a dedicated RORO port that caters only to rolling cargoes carried by RORO vessels calling at ports under the Philippine Nautical Highway System or the Roll-on/Roll-off Terminal System (RRTS) of connected highways and ports.
(Source: Ppa Pmo Surigao Facebook page)