LINER SHIPPING ROUTE STUDY FINAL REPORT VOLUME IX PALAWAN LINER SHIPPING DEVELOPMENTAK ROUTES REPORT November 1994 Submitted to United States Agency for International Development Manila, Philippines Support for Development Program 11: Philippine Sea Transport Consultancy Project No. 492-0450 Prepared by Nathan Associates Inc. under Contract No. 492-0450-C-00-2157-00 The Liner Shipping Route Stutly (LSRS) and the MARINA and SHIPPERCON STUDY (MARSH Study) were conducted, during 1993-1994, under the Philippine Sea Transport Consultancy (PSTC). The Final Report of the LSRS comprises 14 volumes and the Final Report of the MARSH Study comprises 5 volumes. This technical assistance was made possible through the support provided by the Office of Program Economics, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in the Philippines. The views, expressions and opinions contained in this and other volumes of the LSRS Final :Report are those of the authors and of Nathan Associates, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID. 1. INTRODVCTION 1 Development Route Reports Palawan Island & Ports PALSDERR Developmental Route Proposals Organization of PALSDERR- 2. PALAUAN INTERISLAND SHIPPING EiERVICES & PORT TRAFFIC 9 3. CARGO SERVICE STANDARDS 21 Fishery Products Livestock 4. PASSENGER SERVICE STANDARDS 25 5. PUERTO PRINCESA-CEBU LINER SH1:PPING DEVELOPHENTAL ROUTE Liner Service Options Market Analysis PALSDERR Procedure 30 Puerto Princesa 1991-1993 Cargo Flows 32 Trade with Cebu Trade with Manila Puerto Princesa-Cebu-Air Passenger Traffic 35 Economic Analysis 37 6. PALAWAN-ZAHBOANGA LINER SHIPPING DEVELOPHENTAL ROUTE Liner Service Options Market Analysis Sulu Sea Service Option 40 Cagayan de Tawi Tawi Opt ion 4 1 Eccirlomic Analysis 42 7. CUYO-SAN JOSE LINER SHIPPING DEVELOPHENTAL ROUTE Introduction Market Analysis Cargo Traffic Passenger Traffic Economic Analysis 8. INTRAPROVINCIAL LINER SHIPPING DEVELOPHENTAL ROUTES Introduction Market Analysis Coron Cargo Traffic, 1981-1993 Passenger Services Brookes Point-Coron Traffic Financial Analysis 9. FINDINGS 8 RECOHHENDATIONS PALSDERR Findings Recommendat ions ANNEXES ANNEX A Results of Surveys of Palawan Shippers & Officers and Travel Experience . .-. ANNEX B Palawan Passenger Survey Results ANNEX C Palawan Economy & Interisland Trade ANNEX D Financial Analysis & Production of a Liner Shipping Passenger Service Between the Palawan Province Ports of Coron & Puerto Princesa 1. INTRODUCTION Development Route Reports The Liner Shipping Route Studyr (LSRS) was conducted during 1993-1994, with financing from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The LSRS Final Report is in 14 volumes, and includes a 4-volume subset which examines several possible liner shipping and ferry services, which were not being operated in 1993. The objective of all of these "developmental route" investigations was to --dehxminc,- whether -. .or not economically desirable and financially remunerative services might be operated on the several routes under examination, and, if so, to recommend that the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) proactively seek to induce shipping operators to apply for franchises to provide the services. The .volumes of this developmental route subset are: - Palawan Liner Shipping Developmental Routes Report (PALSDERR). This report examines current Palawan liner shipping services, and considers the possibilities for instituting new intraprovincial and interprovincial services. - Cebu-Camiguin Liner Shipping Developmental Route Report (Camiguin Route Report). This report gives consideration to the po:ssibility that fast ferry services linking Cebu and Camiguin Island might be desirable, perhaps with an intermediate call at the Bohol port of Tagbilaran. - Romblon & Marinduque Developmental Routes Report (ROHDERR). This report gives consideration to possible ferry routes that would link Marinduque and the Romblon island of Tablas to Mindoro, as well as a possible ferry connection between Romblon Province and -- - -a- - Marinduque, and a new Romblon intraprovincial mute. The possible reestablishment of a direct Marinduque- Manila connection is also given consideration in the report. - Batangas Liner Shipping Developmental Routes Report (BLISDERR). This report considers a wide variety of possible liner shipping corlnections to Batangas. In line with the objective of the LSRS developmental route reports, the objective of PALSDERR is to identify the new liner shipping service connections that are desirable to be franchised and initiated to ports of Palawan Province in the short to medium term. Palanan Island & Ports Palawan is the largest province of the Philippines, comprising a large main island (Palawan Island) and more than 1700 smaller islands and islets. Palawan Island administratively comprises the capital of Puerto Princesa City and nine municipalities. The other silands of the province administratively comprise twelve municipalities. The province is elongated in shape, and stretches for 650 kilometers along a southwest-northeast axis. Its northernmost island of Busuanga reaches nearly to the southwest coast of Mindoro Island, and the province's southernmost island of Balabac reaches nearly to the coast of the large island of Borneo. The Cuyo Island Group comprises two of the province's municipalities, and is roughly midway between Palawan's main island and the island of Panay. Figure 1 shows Palawan Province. As the figure shows, the main island borders on the Sulu Sea. The long reach of this sea to the east of Palawan Island, and its great depths, produce sea conditions which are unsatisfactory for small vessels much of the time. Regular liner shipping services might only be provided to the main island across the Sulu Sea with a vessel of 1,500 deadweight tons (DWT) or larger. Such a relatively large interisland liner vessel might only operate frequently and profitably if large traffic volumes were passing through Palawan ports. In 1993-1994, the province of Palawan is not yet generating large volumes of traffic, and that circumstance limits the potential for inaugurating new direct liner services to points east from Puerto Princesa. Accordingly, less direct service, plying more protected and shallower waters, might be appropriate for the short to medium term. The province has four principal ports, all of which are within the system of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA): - The port of Puerto Princesa is on the east central coast of the island of Palawan. The port has an area of somewhat over 3.7 hectares, and the 193-meter main wharf has an alongside controlling water depth of 10 to 12 meters. Besides the main wharf, which is of reinforced concrete construction, the port has two berths of about 47 meters each located between the wharf and the end of a rock causeway. The entrance to the port is about 1 nautical mile (n.m.) wide, with water depth sufficient for ocean-going vessels. The port is well sheltered from rough seas. - The port of Coron is not on the island of that name, but rather lies on the southeastern coast of Busuanga Island, opposite Coron Island. The port is small, with just 0.15 hectare of area, and has a reinforced -- FIGURE 1 D PALAWAN PROVINCE AND PORTS. 6, 0 . - - -- - - -- - - - - - -\ ;b SOUTH CHINA SEA .# D . 0. 1100-200 fathoml) PAN A Y CUYO CORRIDOR .o0. 110-30 fofhomr I . COY0 ISLANDS ',*- 0 0. w.0 m.$J a SAN JOSEDE BUENMSTA 0 , -------------\ \ PANAY GULF SULU SEA I WATER 0EPrH.S GENERALLY GREArER WAN 500 FArH0M.S ) BEST AVAILABLE COPY concrete.wharf of 44 by 8 meters, with 10.0-meter water depth alongside. - Cuyo Port has a rock causeway and a damaged timber landing for docking facilities; the causeway is 280 by 7 meters, and the alongside water depth is just 1.5 meters. Any vessel of more than 300 gross registered tons (GRT) can only be accommodated at anchorage; water depths are in the range of 4 to 8 meters about 150 meters from the causeway. The port area is about 0.275 hectare. - At Brookes Point, the port is in an exposed position, and has an area of 0.5 hectare. Sea access is quite shallow, so that only shallow-draft barges can be accommodated at berth. Any large vessel can only be served at anchorage, some 400-700 meters from the shore. The docking facility is a 60 by 6 meter rock causeway. In addition to the four principal ports, Palawan Province has a number of small ports, some of which have no docking facilities. Such ports serve mainly intraprovincial vessel movements and/or the local fishing industry. Municipal ports of the main island include Aborlan, Narra, Roxas, and Taytay on the east coast of the island, and El Nido, Quezon and San Vicente on the west coast. The port of Taytay, on the east coast of the main island, is discussed in this report, because it is the modal transfer point for passengers and some cargo moving between Busuanga Island and Puerto Princesa. The port of El Nido, on the northwest coast of the main island, is useful mainly for its support of the tourism industry of that area. The municipality of Bataraza, at the southern end of Palawan Island is served by a small private port. The northern Palawan islands have minor cargo flows accommodated at the municipal ports of Busuanga, Culion and , =- - kbordo . Dumaran Island;- off the northeast coast of the- main island, is served by the municipal ports of Araceli and Dumaran. Other municipal ports of the small Palawan islands include Agutaya, Balabac, Cagayancillo, Kalayaan, and Magsaysay. PALSDERR Developmental Route Proposals PALSDERR is investigating the desirability of four interprovincial liner shipping routes, i-e., connections between Puerto Princesa and Batangas, Cebu and Zamboanga, and a service connection between Cuyo and San Jose, Antique. The possibilities that intraprovincial liner shipping services might desirably be instituted are also explored. Since the Puerto Princesa-Batangas route would serve essentially the same market as the existing service between Manila and Puerto Princesa, the Batangas connection cannot properly be called a developmental route. Needs for a Batangas service are considered, therefore, in the report's Chapter 3 discussion of existing cargo services.