Super Shuttle ferries – forget them!
Tomorrow it will be a week ago that two Super Shuttle ferries stranded and half sunk on the northern shore of Camiguin. They heavily damaged the dive site of Balbagon. Today we checked the progress of rescue works.
From the shore almost no difference could be observed between the pictures we took a week ago of the two wrecked Super Shuttle Ferries. The same barrels we already saw a week ago still were stacked on the beach. The governor’s gazebo was still in place and the rescue crew sought shelter from the rain.
This rescue crew can do nothing at this moment. They wait for a swimming crane to lift Super Shuttle Ferry 11 and for heavy pumps to get the water out of the ships. This equipment is scheduled to come from Cebu. When? Nobody knows.
It would have been much cheaper to get a strong tug-boat from Cebu last week. But no, they tried to solve the problem with the weak and rusty Super Shuttle Ferry 11.
And the approaching Typhoon?
Seeing the two wrecked Super Shuttle Ferries so near to the shore, we asked one of the rescue guys, if they do not wonder about what will happen to the two wrecks when approaching typhoon Hagupit (see here) will hit them. “No problem Sir, there is an anchor!”, was the answer. I felt a beginning unconsciousness coming up. Do they really believe that those rusty chains and an anchor can withstand an outgrown Typhoon Cat.4 ?
I took two more pictures. Next week you will be able to compare before and after. I hope I am much too pessimistic.
Will Super Shuttle Ferries pay?
Do you remember the USS Guardian on Tubbataha Reef almost 22 months ago? The USS Guardian damaged around 2,345.67 square meters of the reef, according to Tubbataha Reefs Park Superintendent Angelique Songco. The same area may be damaged by the ferries, when Typhoon Hagupit hits the southern Bohol sea.
The US Navy should already have paid PHP 58,000,000 for damaging the coral reefs. Have they already paid?
Will Asian Marine Transport Corporation, the owner of the Super Shuttle Ferries also be accused and condemned for damaging protected areas? How much will they have to pay? Will they pay?
Update next week after the storm.
[GARD]
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Hi. I used to work as a diving instructor in Camiguin before and know the dive sites around the island very well. We have a house on Camiguin and are planing to stay there in the future. I heard about the ferry accident next to Balbagon. I have a suggestion. How about lifting the wreck with airbags to bring it into sandy area about 25 to 30 meters deep before the reef will be additional destroyed.The wrecks could built a new reef and shelter for the marine life. It would be an additional attraction for tourists especially for scuba divers. Shipwrecks are a touristmagnet . Best regards,
Stefan S.
Hi Stafan, we all agree with you. Floating, cleaning and then pulling out a bit these rusty ships would be the best solution. With two sunken wrecks off the coast of Balbagon we would meet three goals:
– Getting rid of two of the hundreds of swimming coffins in the Philippines
– Creating a new attraction for divers in Camiguin
– Providing shelter for fauna and flora
But Asian Marine Transport Corporation will find other rust heaps in Japan and Korea. And if they do not clean the ships carefully before sinking them, we risk a dangerous pollution.
I agree with you. There must be some specialists supervising the cleaning of the ships before removing them.
Supershuttleferry 15 had already the same problems at Ormock before. So we can wait for the next one and just hope that no people will loose their life’s.