Trans Asia expands fleet, invests P2B on new ships

CEBU, Philippines — Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc., (TASLI) invested P2 billion for the acquisition of five vessels in an aggressive move to stir up the economy of the islands in the country.

The company, which is now managed by Chelsea Logistics Corporation acquired five ships to service the booming cargo and passenger services, following the launching of its flagship M/V Trans-Asia 1, a French RoRo ship that will ply the Cebu-Cagayan de Oro-Cebu routes.

TASLI vice president for sales and marketing Pinky Sy bared that the company is bullish of the country’s inter-island business both in cargo and passenger services.

The other four vessels will be introduced in the next few months, and these are purely cargo freighters.

The company invested an estimated of P700 million on M/V Trans-Asia 1 which covered renovation and taxes.

This largest ship of the Trans-Asia fleet can accommodate 1,023 passengers and is envisioned to revolutionize the sea travel experience of the passengers in this route with the carefully designed interiors.

Originally built in France, this RoPax (roll-on/roll-off passenger), which is built for freight vehicle transport along with passenger accommodation. has a gross registered tonnage of 11,457 tons, an overall length of 116.07 meters, a breadth of 21.00 meters, and a depth of 12.90 meters. It has two (2) engines and designed to sail at a speed of 15.0 knots.

In three months, the company will launch MV Trans-Asia 16 and MV Trans-Asia 17. MV Trans-Asia 16 with a cargo capacity of 500 TEUs which will serve the Cebu – Manila – Cebu route, while MV Trans-Asia 17 of the same capacity will be plying the Manila – Davao – Manila route.

This brings to a total of seven RoPax vessels and six cargo vessels calling in 11 ports of call in the country.

At any given time, in aggregate, these vessels can carry approximately [5,300] passengers and [1,900] TEUs. Standing by for renovation is a RoPax vessel MV Trans-Asia 18, a cargo freighter MV Trans-Asia 15 and before year end, a newly built RoPax vessel (MV Trans-Asia 19) from Kegoya Japan will be arriving in Philippine shores.

By 2020, the company targets to launch 10 new vessels and add 10 new domestic ports of operations, resulting to a total of 20-vessel fleet and 20 ports of calls.

“We firmly believe that this vision will be realized through leveraging on our brand and experience in the domestic shipping. In addition, we see a lot of potentials in the economic developments, especially those observed in the Visayas and Mindanao regions,” said Trans-Asia President and CEO Arthur Kenneth L. Sy.

In December 2016, Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corporation purchased the entire outstanding shares of stocks of TASLI, including its four subsidiaries. (FREEMAN)