The Result of the Losses of the MV Leyte, MV Guimaras and MV Dadiangas and the Scrapping of the MV Mindanao of Compania Maritima

Nowadays, those four liners of the defunct but once great Compania Maritima will no longer ring a bell to most people. Even in the years when the four were still sailing those were not among the best or the primary liners of the said shipping line except for the MV Mindanao which was actually the second ship to carry that name in Compania Maritima. And so what was the significance then of their losses? This I will try to explain.

The shipping company Compania Maritima of the Philippines (as there were other shipping companies of that name abroad and even in Spain, the country of origin of our Compania Maritima) was the biggest in local passenger shipping from probably  the late Spanish era and until just before the company folded sometime in 1984 at the peak of the political and economic crisis besetting the country then. And so, the company had a run at the top of our passenger shipping field for nearly a century and that is probably a record that can no longer be broken. Compania Maritima in English means “Maritime Company”.


The logo of Compania Maritima (Credits to Lindsay Bridge)

When the Pacific War ended and the shipping companies were still struggling to get back on its feet they were dependent on the war surplus ships that were being handed down by the Americans. Although Compania Maritima was also a recipient of these kind of ships their rise was not dependent on it as they were capable of acquiring surplus ships from Europe using their Spanish connections (the owners of the company, the Fernandez Hermanos were dual Filipino and Spanish citizens). Their contemporaries Madrigal Shipping and Manila Steamship (the Elizalde shipping company) were also capable of that (now who remembers those two shipping companies?) but their acquisitions were old ships that I suspect were castoffs from convoy duty during the war. In comparison, Compania Maritima’s ships from Europe were just a few years old.

Right off the bat, Compania Maritima had the biggest passenger fleet in local shipping after the war and their best ships were the biggest ferries in the Liberation and post-Liberation years. Aside from their war-surplus ex-”C1-M-AV1” ships which were refrigerated cargo ships during the war, Compania Maritima had ships whose origins were as liners in Europe and it definitely has a difference over passenger ships whose origins were as cargo ships. Among the ships from Europe was their first flagship, the MV Cebu and the sister ships MV Panay and MV Jolo. The latter two were fast cruiser ships of that early Republic shipping years.

Locally, it was almost always that Compania Maritima will have the best and biggest ships and the biggest fleet. They were also among the first to order brand-new liners like the MV Luzon in 1959, the MV Visayas in 1963 and the MV Filipinas in 1968. When the three were fielded those ships were not only the biggest but also the best (as compared to the ex-”C1-M-AV1” and the ex-”C1A” types which were big but not really that luxurious). Not included in this comparison were liners whose main function were as oceangoing liners. Among these are the brand-new ships of De la Rama Steamship which were leased from the government that later will become the subject of a dispute in court.


Credits to Philippine Herald and Gorio Belen

A ship bigger than the three mentioned was the MV Mindanao of the company which came in 1970 from Europe but was not a brand-new ship having been built in 1959. But her distinction when she was fielded was she was the biggest liner sailing then and even bigger than the flagship MV Filipinas. It was only in December 1979 when her record length will be broken when the MV Dona Virginia came to William Lines.

The MV Mindanao was the last-ever passenger-cargo ship acquired by Compania Maritima and the 1970’s was the decade when they will lose a lot of ships as casualties of typhoons. Some will sink, some will capsize and some will be wrecked. Now those three categories are all different in the determination of the loss of a ship. Not all ship losses actually result in the disappearance of the ship below water. In “wrecking” the ship will still be above water in some beach. In “capsizing”, there are many cases when part of the ship can still be above water or just below the waterline, visible and accessible. But many times also the ship will be in deep waters and so that is called “capsizing and sinking”. If the hull is holed or broke into two it will simply be “sinking”.


Credits to Gorio Belen

The MV Leyte was a small passenger-cargo ship, technically a multi-day liner but by no means a luxury liner as she was just a former “FS” cargo ship during the war which was converted for passenger-cargo use. As a passenger-cargo ship, her career evolved mainly in serving her namesake island and province through the port of Tacloban in a route extending up to Butuan and Nasipit. There are times though when she also substituted in other routes outside Leyte. The ship was originally known as USS FS-386 in the US Army.

This small ship came to Compania Maritima in 1947. Although 53.9 meters in length over-all and 560 gross register tons this ship was lengthened to 66.2 meters with a gross register tonnage of 730 tons. Lengthening of ex-”FS” ships was common then (most were actually lengthened) in order to increase their passenger and cargo capacities. The speed of this type of ship was between 10 and 11 knots and their accommodations were rather spartan.

1965 0201 MV Guimaras

Credits to Philippine Herald and Gorio Belen

The MV Guimaras was not a small liner for her time with a length over-all of 98.6 meters, a gross register tonnage of 3,555 tons and a net register of 1,868 tons. Translated to more modern measurements that is approximately the dimensions of the fast cruiser liners of William Lines of the 1970’s. She actually had the dimensions of the sank MV Cebu City and MV Don Juan which were both flagships but her breadth was one meter wider. It is hard to compare her with the ROPAXes of today as this type have greater beams than the cruiser ships of old and these are generally taller. The “fatter” MV Don Claudio is actually a nearer match but still the breadth of the MV Guimaras was bigger. The MV Guimaras was actually bigger than the flagships of the other shipping companies of her era.

The MV Guimaras was one of the former liners from Europe that came here in the 1960’s to bolster our fleets when surplus ships from the war were no longer available in the market. It was not only Compania Maritima which took this route but also Carlos A. Gothong & Company (the yet-undivided company), William Lines and Sweet Lines. These ferries from Europe actually averaged 100 meters in length over-all and that will give an approximate idea of their size (gross register tonnage is sometimes a subjective measure). On the average their speed was about 15 knots but the speed of the MV Guimaras tops that at 16.5 knots.

The MV Guimaras was the former refrigerated cargo ship Sidi-Aich of the Societe Generale des Transports Maritimes a Vapeur (SGTM) of Marseilles, France and she was completed in 1957 and so when she came she was not yet an old ship. The route of the MV Guimaras from the time she was fielded until she lost was the Manila-Iloilo-Cotabato route although at times she also dropped anchor too in Zamboanga port which was just on the way.


The Kitala (Credits to Jean Pierre Le Fustec)

The MV Dadiangas was a bigger ship than the MV Guimaras but built in the same year and also in France where she was known as the Kitala of the Compagnie Maritime des Chargeurs Reunis. Like the MV Guimaras she was also a refrigerated cargo ship with passengers and the advantage of this type is air-conditioning and refrigeration is available from the start and so they can be refitted as luxury liners.

This ship was 109.5 meters in length over-all with a gross register tonnage, the cubic volume of 4,143 tons and a net register tonnage of 3,240 tons. For comparison, this ship is already the size of the MV Dipolog Princess and MV Iloilo Princess, both of which reached the new millennium. She came to Compania Maritima in 1969 and her first name in the company was MV Isla Verde. She was subsequently renamed to MV Dadiangas in 1976.

Like the biggest ships of Compania Maritima, the MV Isla Verde also spent part of her career on overseas routes. When she was sailing the local seas her route was to Dadiangas (a.k.a. General Santos City) and Davao. In the later part of her career she was paired with the MV Leyte Gulf of the company in the same route. She is also a relatively fast ship for her time at 16 knots.

A summer Signal No. 3 typhoon of 150-kph center wind strength, the Typhoon “Atang” caught the MV Leyte on a voyage from Manila and she was wrecked in the southwestern portion of Sibuyan island trying to reach shelter, the usual predicament then of ships without radars during the storms of those times. The MV Leyte was almost on a collision course with the oncoming typhoon and so she actually preceded the fate of the MV Princess of the Stars in almost the same area 30 years later. The ship met her sad fate on April 20, 1978.

Meanwhile, the MV Guimaras was caught by the twin storms Typhoon “Etang” and Typhoon “Gening” which intensified the habagat waves and created a storm surge. The MV Guimaras was driven ashore on July 7, 1979 a kilometer south of Turtle Island in Campomanes Bay in Sipalay, Negros Occidental. She could have been trying to reach port as Sipalay has a port or she might have been trying to seek shelter in the bay. And on July 18 of that same year she was officially abandoned. The wreck of MV Guimaras is still there today in shallow waters of about 20 feet and is already a dive site. According to a website, the wreck of the MV Guimaras is already broken now.

In studying maritime losses one lesson that can be gained is it is not a good idea to try to outrun a typhoon or even a tropical storm (the modern terminology if the center wind is below 120kph). This is what MV Dadiangas tried to do when she passed the eastern seaboard of Mindanao on the way back to Manila from Davao. A tropical storm, the Typhoon “Huaning” was also on its way to Surigao and Leyte but was still then at some distance and still weak. But sea disturbance is not confined to within the walls of the typhoon and so the MV Dadiangas ran aground and was wrecked in Siargao island and to think the maximum strength of the typhoon as it was called then was only 95kph. MV Dadiangas was wrecked on June 23, 1980 and was broken up in 1981.

Three lost ships that at first look do not have that much significance. But then the big MV Mindanao of the company was also broken up in 1980. What does it matter here now in the annals of Philippine passenger shipping?

In the closing years of the 1970’s especially in 1978, Compania Maritima, William Lines and Sulpicio Lines were already at near-parity with each other in fleet size and quality especially after the slew of purchases of fast cruisers liners of William Lines and Sulpicio Lines. Meanwhile, Compania Maritima was no longer buying ferries after 1970 and in the 1970’s the company had a lot of ship losses. That means a net decrease for their passenger-cargo fleet while the passenger fleets of her main competitors were getting bigger.

It has long been my wonder if Compania Maritima was ever overtaken as the local Number 1 before their demise. Upon further peering it seems with the consecutive losses of the MV Leyte, MV Guimaras and MV Dadiangas and the scrapping of the MV Mindanao was the tipping point in the relative parity of the three companies. After that the two Chinoy shipping companies were already ahead by a little. The acquisition of William Lines of their new flagship MV Dona Virginia in December 1979 and of the MV Philippine Princess by Sulpicio Lines in 1981 plus their good salvage job on the burned MV Don Sulpicio which became the MV Dona Paz in 1981 were the final additions that pushed William Lines and Sulpicio Lines clearly ahead of Compania Maritima and that was epoch-making as the run on the top of Compania Maritima after nearly a century was finally broken. And to think Sulpicio Lines also lost their MV Dona Paulina in a wrecking in Canigao Island on May 21, 1980 and their old MV Don Manuel had a non-fatal collision on the same year.

By 1981 Compania Maritima only had 3 original liners (the MV Filipinas, MV Luzon and MV Visayas) plus one former refrigerated cargo ship from Europe (the MV Leyte Gulf) and one former ”C1-M-AV1” ship (the MV Samar) plus a few ex-”FS” ships that were not all in passenger service. By that year, William Lines had 6 fast cruiser liners already (the MV Cebu City, MV Misamis Occidental, MV Manila City, MV Cagayan de Oro City, MV Ozamis City and the MV Tacloban City) plus a former refrigerated ship from Europe (the MV Davao City) and 10 ex-”FS” ships in liner and overnight routes. Meanwhile, Sulpicio Lines had 5 fast cruiser liners already (the MV Philippine Princess, MV Don Enrique, Don MV Don Eusebio, MV Dona Paz and MV Dona Marilyn) plus 2 former refrigerated cargo ships from Europe (the MV Dona Angelina and MV Dona Helene), 4 other ships from Europe (the MV Dona Vicenta, MV Don Camilo, MV Dona Gloria and the MV Dona Julieta), the Don Ricardo and MV Don Carlos which were from Japan, the ex-”FS” ships Don Victoriano I and the MV Don Alfredo, the MV Dona Lily from Australia which was the size of an “FS” ship plus the local builds MV Ethel and MV Jeanette. On the balance, in 1981 Sulpicio Lines might already have a very slight pull over William Lines which was a very great comeback from the split of Carlos A. Gothong & Co. in 1972.


The remains of Compania Maritima in Cebu

To repeat, even without the MV Dona Virginia and the MV Philippine Princess, the two Chinoy shipping lines were already ahead of Compania Maritima. And if the Compania Maritima, William Lines and Sulpicio Lines had rough parity in 1978 what probably tipped the balance were the three lost ships of Compania Maritima and the breaking-up of MV Mindanao in 1980. Four lost liners without replacements. And that is the problem of losing ships and not buying replacements.

From 1981 it was no longer just a matter of passenger-cargo ships as container ships were already taking a large chunk of the liner business (and in this type William Lines and Sulpicio Lines joined the race against early pacesetter Aboitiz Shipping Corporation while Compania Maritima did not). So actually by 1983, William Lines and Sulpicio Lines were running even less liners as some old and small ships were either laid up, sold or converted to just carrying cargo.


MINTERBRO Port, the remains of Compania Maritima in Davao

In 1982, the MV Samar was broken up and in 1983 the MV Luzon was also broken up. Compania Maritima was already near extinction then. It was just the dying dance and after that it was already a battle between William Lines and Sulpicio Lines which is Number 1.

The Brief Career of Philippine President Lines (PPL) In The Inter-island Trade

Philippine President Lines. What a grandiose name! Obviously it took off from the American President Lines (APL) whose ships were named after the American Presidents. Similarly, Philippine President Lines (PPL) also named their ships after Philippine Presidents but not all (one reason is we don’t have many Presidents being a young republic). PPL was not as old as American President Lines being established only in the late 1950’s.

Philippine President Lines is an unusual shipping company in the Philippines because it took off and expanded so fast that in so short a time as in less than a decade it was already the biggest shipping company in the country. In the process, it even exceeded the venerable Compania Maritima or CM (and its subsidiary Maritime Company of the Philippines in the overseas trade) in the combined local and foreign trade (later, it was matched by Galleon Shipping Corporation, another company that also grew up very fast).

Philippine President Lines started in the local routes but they gave it up to a subsidiary after just four years and then concentrated on the foreign trade. Along the way, PPL acquired many ocean-going ships which sailed routes to the Far East, Japan and the US West Coast. In the process, the names of the ships of Philippine President Lines changed from “President” to “Liberty” to “Lucky”. Philippine President Lines died as a shipping company when their ships were already named “Lucky”. The company is still alive but its business now are by being ship agents and by engaging in ship manning.


Photo credits: Philippine Herald and Gorio Belen

The first ship of Philippine President Lines was the FS-223 which was acquired from the US. By 1960, their inter-island passenger fleet was already set. The company was fortunate in this period because it was able to acquire former “AKL” ships which were already being disposed then by the US Navy. “AKL” ships were former “FS” ships that were retained by the US after the war for use of the US Navy in supplying out of the way small posts especially in the Pacific Ocean. “AKL” ships were supposedly better than its ex-”FS” sisters.

Philippine President Lines acquired their first ship in 1959 and this became the President Magsaysay in their fleet. In 1960, PPL acquired the former FS-220, also from the US and this became the first President Roxas. In 1960, too, their first “AKL” ship came, the former AKL-5 which became the President Quirino. In the same year, they also acquired the passenger-cargo ship Sirius from North Camarines Lumber Company which was not only involved in the logging and lumber business but also in shipping. This was the former FS-265 of the US Army.

In the same year 1960, Philippine President Lines also made a grand acquisition when then were able to acquire a former seaplane tender, the Onslow (AVP-48) which they then converted into a luxury liner with airconditioning and named as the President Quezon. The conversion took a year but when she was fielded she became the fastest liner in the Philippines at 18 knots, beating the old record-holder, the Don Julio of Southern Lines which was formerly a Ledesma Lines ship. In the same year, they were able to acquire another passenger-cargo ship which was named the Lake Taal which was not big enough to carry the name of a President.

In 1961, two former AKL ships from the US Navy reinforced their fleet. The AKL-1 and AKL-2 came which became the President Laurel and the President Osmena in their fleet, respectively. The two ships were the former FS-175 and FS-309 of the US Army (the US Army and not the US Navy operated the “FS” ships in the war). These former “FS” ships were all powered by versions of the 1,000-hp GM Cleveland engines which gave a maximum speed of 12 knots except for the President Laurel that was powered by an 800-hp Enterprise engine which was only capable of 10.5 knots.


Photo credits: The Philippines Herald and Gorio Belen

The early routes of Philippine President Lines stressed Bicol ports and routes, three out of their five, in fact, in 1960. That was welcome development in the region because that time the Madrigal Shipping routes to Bicol were already flagging. The PPL’s Bicol route even reached Larap and J. Panganiban of Camarines Norte, the farthest Bicol ports from Manila and the diminutive Lake Taal was used in those ports as well as in the ancient port of Tandoc in Caramoan Peninsula.

By 1963, however, the inter-island operation of PPL were transferred to a subsidiary, the Philippine Pioneer Lines. Initially, the word “President” was dropped from the names of the ships but later the word “Pioneer” headed the name of the ships. Like the President Quezon which became Quezon became the Pioneer Iloilo. The number of ships increased but the routes to Bicol declined. Philippine Pioneer Lines then began to stress Cebu like most other shipping companies. Maybe they realized the traffic to Bicol ports was not really that much commensurate.

The significant addition to the Philippine Pioneer Lines fleet was the acquisition of the former Don Julio of Southern Lines which became the Pioneer Leyte in the Philippine Pioneer Lines fleet. Because of this, Philippine Pioneer Lines possessed the two fastest liners in the Philippine seas then.

This is the short tale of the inter-island career of Philippine President Lines. Its successor, the Philippine Pioneer Lines and its further successor, Galaxy Lines deserve a separate article maybe. Abangan!


Photo credit: Manila Chronicle and Gorio Belen