CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro (PIA) — The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) found out that additional ferries are needed to address the problem of long queues of passengers at Calapan Sea Port during the first day of back to school and work of people after the holiday season.
Apart from the strong waves and bad weather, Mindoro Port Manager Elvis Medalla said the turn-around time of passenger ferries had been slow because the number of ships traversing Calapan-Batangas has decreased.
Passengers are waiting for their chances to avail tickets at Calapan Port on January 3, 2023. (Photo credit: Oriental Mindoro PIO)
“Yon pong barko natin ay kulang po talaga. Dati po kasi meron po tayong apat na FastCraft na bumibiyahe sa Calapan-Batangas-Calapan, pero ang bumibiyahe nalang po sa ngayon ay isa na lang po, Oceanjet.” [The number of our ferry is not really sufficient. Formerly, we had four FastCraft traversing Calapan-Batangas-Calapan, but now, there is only one carrying passengers, Oceanjet], said Medalla.
On the other hand, PPA General Port Manager Jay Santiago emphasized that there will be a long-term solution to the problem of long queues of passengers since an ongoing construction of the new Passenger Terminal Building (PTB) in the Port of Calapan is expected to open by March 2023.
In a press statement released by PPA Oriental Mindoro, they are asking for the people’s understanding, especially those who recently queued for a period of time, and that they assured that in the coming days, additional ferries will come so that passengers do not have to wait too long.
The new PTB will accommodate at least 3,500 passengers, which according to PPA, will be the largest PTB in the country.
Per PPA records, from December 27, 2022 until January 2, 2023, they served 77,242 passengers and on January 3, 2023, they recorded 16,086 passengers passing through the port. (LTC/PIA MIMAROPA)
Photo above credit to Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Ports Management Office Mindoro
