Filipino Couple Brings 10 New Ship in the Philippines and More Coming

The Pastrana couple has brought ten (10) new built RoRo Catamaran Ferries made by an Australian company that costs $8.3 million to $12 million each.

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• What is Catamaran Vessel?
• Catamaran Vessel is a watercraft vessel made to have two equal parallel hull that make it more stable than mono-hull vessels, and because of its design it could also provide a larger space. It is commonly shortened as “Cat” and is gaining popularity on modern ferry vessel/ship building.

Mr. Pastrana shared how he experienced the bad situation in Philippine sea transport back in 1986 travelling regularly across the country. He cited the tragic disaster of passenger vessel Doña Paz ferry that collided with the oil tanker MT Vector, leaving more than 4,300 passengers and crews dead and missing. “It was the worst maritime accident in the world, worse than the Titanic, with 4,000 lives lost. It is so embarrassing, when you go to conferences and all of these are being mentioned,” says Pastrana.

This pushed the couple to provide a better sea transport for island travelers. Mentioning that the Philippines is an archipelago made of 7,100 plus islands making it a key way of transporting.

Mary Ann and Christopher Pastrana

Christopher Pastrana is the chairman of Archipelago Philippine Ferries Corporation (APFC), operator of FastCat RoRo ferries and the co-founder, president and chief executive of Capp Group of Companies. While his wife, Mary Ann Ibuna is the co-founder, executive vice president and treasurer of the group.

In 2002, his Company acquired the RoRo business of the Philtranco bus lines. From four vessels they have managed to grow to nine vessels – all second-hand from different countries. In 2010 they saw the need to step up the game to provide better transport system and provide vessel that are more suitable for Philippine travelers who usually bring big bags and boxes.

Then, they embarked on a fleet modernization program that costs $249-million. His company APFC borrowed money from bank to finance 75 percent cost. Program aims to bring 30 RoRo vessels at a cost of $8.3 million to $12 million each from Sea Transport Solutions of Australia, the leading designer and builder of catamaran vessels in the world.

FastCat began commercial operation on August 2, 2013. Now there are already Ten (10) vessels deployed and have set the bar higher in maritime transport. Their FastCat vessel can take in up to 275 passengers, seven trucks or buses and 34 cars, which has an average speed of 16.5 knots or about 29 kilometers an hour, one of the fastest in the industry.

The couple expect to have 20 vessels by 2018, and to get the target 30 vessel before 2020.

Read more about their inspiring story here: http://bit.ly/29OQvj1
photo credits to The Standard

Have you also dreamed of having your own ship like we do?

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