Bureau of Quarantine awards cleanest ships

Cebu - Cokaliong Shipping Lines Inc. and the Aboitiz Transport System led yesterday’s awardees in the “Cleanest Ship of the Year” contest conducted by the Bureau of Quarantine.

The two shipping companies both earned two first place awards.

Cokaliong Shipping, which was represented by company president and CEO Chester Cokaliong, bagged the cleanest ship of the year awards for the Cargo/Passenger and Big Ferry categories. The winning vessels are the M/V Filipinas-Cebu and M/V Filipinas Dumaguete, respectively.

ATS won first place in the Luxury Vessel category and swept the rest of the awards in that class. The winning vessels were Super Ferry 12, 5, and 9 in that order.

ATS also won the award for the Fast Craft category through Supercat 25. Second and third places for this category went to Weesam 7 and 8, respectively, of SRN Fast Ferries Inc.

Second place for the Cargo/Passenger category went to Trans-Asia II of Trans Asia Shipping Lines Inc. followed by Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Cebu Ferries at third.

San Ramon de Bohol of Lite Shipping finished second in the Big Ferry category while third place went to Georich of George and Peter Lines.

M/V Beautiful Stars of Roble Shipping Inc. topped the Small Ferries category followed by Lady of Nativity of Medallion shipping on second and Our Lady of the Barangay of Lite Shipping on third.

In the Cargo Category, Fortune Legacy of Fortune Sea Carrier was adjudged as the cleanest.

Special individual awards were also given out.

The Ship Physician of the Year was Dr. Buenaventura Sanmguyo II of Super Ferry 5 of ATS.

Fexie Gurit of Trans Asia was picked as Ship Nurse of the Year.

The Chief Steward of the Year award went to Ruth Pastor of Beautiful Stars while the Chief Cook of the Year plum went to Honorio Tumanda of Trans-Asia II.

The inspection team was composed of Quarantine Medical Officers Dr. Terence Anthony Bermejo and Dr. Philbert Puga, and Health educators, Rose Alegarbes and Jose Hazil Morala. 

The group conducted inspections in between arrival and departure of the vessels. Monitoring was also undertaken through a series of visits from January to first week of December, once every month.

The evaluation covered all the areas of the vessel, including some requirements for a higher level of standard of Food Hygiene and Sanitation or Good manufacturing practice.

Emmanuel Abella, BOQ-Cebu chief, said that the contest is in line with the general purpose in which their office is created, which is to protect and promote the health of the people by ensuring maximum security against the introduction of spread of disease.

Abella initiated the said contest last June 2005 and was endorsed by BOQ Director IV, Edgardo Sabitsana.

The contest is open to all inter-island vessels classified into six aforementioned categories, regularly calling on the ports of Cebu.

Bermejo, during the team’s presentation of the criteria, said that BOQ chose to hold the contest in Cebu, because major stakeholders of the shipping industry are in the said province. Cebu is the hub of inter-island shipping in Southern Philippines, they claimed.

Dr. Susana Madarietta, DOH-7 Director, for her part, requested ship owners to make their vessels tobacco and smoke free and serve healthy food in their canteens. — Niña Chrismae G. Sumacot/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)