Philippine Ports
A major bulk of trade and travel in the country happen via the Philippine ports. The Philippine is an archipelago -- a country made up of several thousand islands -- a little over seven thousand islands both big and small. Before airplanes were invented, trade, commerce, and travel in the Philippine have been done via the sea.
About a hundred and fifty years ago, there were no major Philippine ports. The Philippine became a Republic only in 1898. Commercial Philippine ports have been built only in the 90's.
However, historical evidence shows that trade and commerce via ships have taken place since the Philippine's discovery in 1521, by the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan didn't dock at a commercial Philippine port but by the beaches of Mactan island.
At present, travel by sea is still popular among Filipinos. That makes Philippine ports really useful for the general public. In the Philippine, traveling by the seas can be an enriching experience. It's also more economical. If ever you ever travel by sea, you will see clearly that the Philippine is an island province. When we once traveled to Cebu using the sea route, we wanted to experience the open sea. That is, we wanted to know how it felt like being in the middle of the sea without any type of land in sight. To our surprise, we always saw land! There was not even a time, not even ten minutes, when we didn't see land. The Cebu-Manila trip was made more exciting by the the dolphin viewing.
If you are in Manila and want to experience how things are run in Philippine ports, the quickest way for you to do this is to go to the Puerto Galera beach. Puerto Galera is a very popular tourist spot. Many folks from Manila, especially teenagers, flock to this beach during the height of the summer.
Puerto Galera is in the island of Mindoro, south of Batangas. From Manila, it takes a two-hour car ride, plus an hour boat ride, to get to this beautiful island. The boat ride starts at the Batangas port, one major Philippine port. Boat rides to Puerto Galera are always exciting. Part of the excitement is due to the fact that the boats going to the island are made of wood and bamboo! If ever you ever go there, you should really try those wooden boats navigated by fishermen. Yes, many fishermen use those boats to ferry passengers from Batangas to Puerto Galera during the summer. Although the boats are wooden and handmade, they are powered by small truck engines. The boats are small and can fit around 80 to 100 persons only. Like the dolphins accompanying the ship from Cebu to Manila, diving dolphins also accompany boat riders from Batangas to Puerto Galera.
Almost all the island provinces in the Philippine have ports. Although most of the Philippine ports service the travel industry, some ports are used as linking points for businessmen who transport their goods in different parts of the country and abroad. The Philippine ports that have the highest passenger counts are Zamboanga, Batangas, Calapan, Ozamiz and Legazpi.
The major Philippine ports that are used for transporting trade goods are in Manila, Cebu, Ilolio, Davao, Zamboanga, Puerto Princesa, La Union, Subic and Batangas. The entry and exit of goods are regulated by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the Bureau of Customs. Taxes and duties are handled by the Customs office. The Philippine Ports Authority is a government corporation specially charged with the financing, management and operations of Philippine ports used by the general public. Its goal, as written in its charter, is to implement an integrated Philippine port system aimed at increasing maritime trade and commerce in the Philippine. The Philippine Ports Authority can be reached online via http://www.ppa.com.ph.
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