The lost Ferries in the Philippines

In the Philippines it seems that Ferries are been lost every day. Or at least the shipping companies do not know where their Ferries are.

For all travellers and especially for foreign tourists it is extremely important to find true and updated information about any means of transportation. In many countries you can consult schedules and fares on the Internet. Most transportation companies even allow visitors to book and reserve their trips on the respective websites.

The Philippines are an exception! Almost all flights except charters you can now book over the Internet. But only few shipping lines and bus companies offer such services. And worse, many bus and shipping lines do either have lousy websites or nothing. Some “Cheap Charlies” try it with free facebook pages that are never updated. One of those “Cheap Charlies” is

Super Shuttle Ferries

Their new website under a new domain is rather a hoax. See yourself! And no “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet conse ctetur adipisicing elit sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.” isn’t Latin, it is a text that web-designers use to fill the space where the actual text will be displayed.

Their facebook page had been updated the last time in 2013. Many of the routes below do not exist anymore or have completely different schedules! Please do not use for actual reference. Most of the information is wrong!

Worse: The Information Service gives wrong Information

A guest inquired about the Jagna – Camiguin ferry at info@supershuttleroro.com. The written information he got is wrong. See yourself:

Gesendet: Dienstag, 09. Februar 2016 um 07:31 Uhr
Von: “info.supershuttleroro” <info@supershuttleroro.com>
Betreff: Re: inquiry about ferry Bohol to Camiguin

hi sir/mam,

Our trip Camiguin to Jagna Daily 8:00am ETA-11:30am while Jagna to
Camiguin Daily also 1:00pm ETA-5:00PM

Car Fare -⁠⁠ 4,125.00 (Free driver only)
Passenger Fare -⁠⁠ 425.00 (Regulare fare)
361.25 (Sp Fare)
340.00 ( SC Fare )
212.50 (3-⁠⁠11Yrs Old

thanks,
ven

Port Authorities in Jagna and Balbagon as well as all the dolphins in the Bohol Sea confirm that the above ferry is only sailing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This means that Super Shuttle Ferry staff in Cebu does not know where their ferries are!

The Automatic Identification System (AIS)

If Super Shuttle Ferry used the Automatic Identification System (AIS) then they knew where their ships are at any moment. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships, AIS base stations, and satellites.

Silent Gardens uses this system on the Sea-Ports page. It looks like this:

You may want to click on above image to enlarge or consult the live map is here.

Conclusions:

1. Never trust a single information source
2. Plan your trips with enough time reserves. Surprises happen very often.
3. The Philippine Maritime Industry Authority should require AIS Systems on all passenger vessels

[GARD]