Lite Ferries to launch another brand-new ship

Lite Ferries to launch another brand-new ship
14 November 2019 https://ph.news.yahoo.com/lite-ferries-launch-another-brand-070900946.html

LITE Shipping Corporation will launch on November 18, a brand-new roll-on-roll-off passenger ship with a class certificate issued by RINA of Italy.

M/V Lite Ferry Five was granted “Pioneering Status Protection” by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) for the route of Oslob, Cebu to Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte through Executive Order 909 and Memorandum Circular 2015-4.

But the vessel will temporarily service the Oslob, Cebu to Dapitan City route, a four-hour trip, pending the completion of the dredging of Dipolog Port by the Dipolog City Government.

Completed in 2019, Lite Ferry Five is a brand-new 75-meter long RoRo passenger coastwise ship, with gross register tonnage (GRT) of 2,895 tons.

It was built in China but classed by RINA of Italy. It has wide passageways on its passenger decks and a spacious cargo deck that can accommodate 540 passengers and 23 10-wheeler trucks. It has maximum speed of 15 knots and a service speed of 13 to 14 knots.

Lite Shipping, which is on its 29th year of operations, is also expecting the arrival in December 2019 of its second brand-new vessel to be named M/V Lite Ferry Nine, a 70-meter long coastwise RO-RO ferry, with a GRT of 2,107 tons.

The vessel was also built in China and classed by the Bureau Veritas of France. It can accommodate 400 passengers and 17 10-wheeler trucks.

Deployment will be in January 2020 for the Jagna, Bohol to Cagayan de Oro City route on a pioneering status. It has a service speed of 12 knots.

With a total of seven ships acquired brand-new in the past five years, including its flag ship vessel M/V Lite Ferry 88, Lite Ferries now operates one of the youngest fleets in the Philippines. Six other vessels were below 20 years old upon acquisition.

The launch of its latest arrival on Monday, November 18, will be graced by Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio assisted by Representative Edgar Mary S. Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, and Marina Administrator Narciso A. Vingson, Jr.

The launching will be headed by the Lite Ferries president and CEO Lucio E. Lim, Jr. together with COO Fernando A. Inting, VP for Operations Jonathan Lim-Imboy, and commercial operations head Jethro Nathaniel Lim-Imboy. (PR)