Bigger, Faster Ship for Cebu-Ormoc Launched

Lite Ferries launched the newly-renovated M/V Lite Ferry 19 to ply the Cebu City-Ormoc City route on March 25, 2019 at Pier 1, this city.

According to Lite Ferries President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lucio E. Lim, Jr., the M/V Lite Ferry 19 is their contribution to Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s call to modernize the domestic fleet in the country.

M/V Lite Ferry 19, the sister ship of M/V Lite Ferries 18 launched in November 2018, was built in 2002 in China.

It is the youngest and fastest ferry plying the Cebu City-Ormoc City route with a travel time of 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Lim believes that M/V Lite Ferry 19 will meet what the customers always care about – speed and cleanliness.

It has hotel-like features and amenities and can accommodate a total of 856 passengers.

It will ply the Cebu City-Ormoc City route daily at 11:00 a.m. and Ormoc City-Cebu City daily at 11:00 p.m.

Lite Ferries is also set to launch two new ships, the M/V Lite Ferry 5 and M/V Lite Ferry 9, which will be deployed in the Oslob, Cebu-Dipolog City and Cagayan de Oro-Jagna, Bohol routes, respectively.

Both are expected to be operational between May-July 2019.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who witnessed the launching, acknowledged the new vessel’s importance in the country’s economic development.

Sotto said the government is making sure that it supports the private sector, not only the maritime industry.

“I have been pushing for the enhancement of ship building in the Philippines. Our ship building industry is very young, in its infancy. We really have to develop that. Perhaps, we can do something about it in the Senate in a form of a resolution for the executive department to look into the matter,” said Sotto when asked if the administration could make the shipping industry one of its priorities.

The ceremonial launching was also attended by Undersecretary Renato Ebarle of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), officials from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Philippine Coast Guard, and Cebu Ports Authority.(Bridgette May Bayhon/PIA7)