AN Agency helping companies acquire new vessels denied it is forcing operators to serve unprofitable routes but clarified it will give priority to firms buying locally made ships.

In a statement, the National Maritime Leasing Corp. (NMLC) said it is currently processing the requests of 16 operators which plan to acquire roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels. These vessels are expected to be used on “routes chosen by applicants and not forced on them,” the state-led entity said. Of all routes to be served by these ships, only three are unprofitable. 

“Two applicants have chosen to have their vessels locally constructed and the rest have opted to acquire secondhand vessels,” it said, failing to name the shipping operators and the routes that these intend to serve.

In the same statement, NMLC president and chief executive officer Agustin R. Bengzon said that locally made RoRo vessels will be given priority since it will stimulate the local shipbuilding industry, which has been reduced to fixing instead of constructing. 

“This establishes self-reliance in shipbuilding and the independence of the country from secondhand ships acquired from foreign sources. Corollary benefits are the stimulation of investments and the generation of employment, particularly at the countryside, thereby accelerating economic development and growth at the grassroots level,” Bengzon said, reacting to earlier comments made by Philippine Ports Authority general manager Oscar M. Sevilla that NMLC still has to make significant inroads to assist the country’s vessel operators.

Earlier, Sevilla said that as a result of the stringent measures of NMLC, there is “not much activity going on” for NMLC’s lease financing efforts.

The NMLC “should allow vessel operators to operate in the routes they choose. They have to be placed on where they will earn profits,” Sevilla said. “There should be deregulated routes and rates. If they [vessel operators] will be forced to go there [missionary routes], after maybe two weeks they will surely be gone.”

Since the start of its operation some two years ago, NMLC was only able to finance three RoRo vessels for Batangas-based Montenegro Shipping Lines Inc. These vessels were M/V Oliva that cost P13.37 million, M/V Natasha P5.7 million, and M/V Lolita P10.09 million.

Local vessels get funding priority

AN Agency helping companies acquire new vessels denied it is forcing operators to serve unprofitable routes but clarified it will give priority to firms buying locally made ships.

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