A SHIPPING subsidiary of Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. is tapping a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based shipowner Kumiai Senpaku Co., Ltd. to ramp up its passenger vessels.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange yesterday, Dennis A. Uy-led Chelsea said its subsidiary Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc. inked a bareboat charter party with Kumiai Senpaku’s Southern Pacific Holding Corp. on Monday.
A bareboat charter is a kind of shipping agreement where a vessel owner rents out its ships to a charterer, but the charterer takes charge of other things such as the crew for the vessel. Kumiai Senpaku will be building a vessel that it will own but Trans-Asia will operate.
The new agreement is intended to help Trans-Asia address the growing number of passengers it serves from Visayas and Mindanao. Trans-Asia offers interisland trips linking Cebu City to Cagayan de Oro, Osamis, IIoilo and Tagbilaran City.
The new ship will have a gross register tonnage of 8,800 tons and can accommodate 1,085 passengers, 24 buses and 11 trucks. It will be built at Fukuoka Shipyard in Japan and is expected to arrive in the country in June 2021. — Denise A. Valdez
