Basey: Leyte- and Samar-bound cargo trucks will be prioritized by roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) vessels at the Amadayehan Port in Basey, Samar once it becomes operational next week, an Eastern Visayas official said.

According to Philippines News Agency, with the expected operations of the newly improved port, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) has to plan ways to prevent port congestions in both the Tacloban City and Samar ports, RDRRMC chair and concurrent Office of Civil Defense regional director Lord Byron Torrecarion said.

Lord Byron Torrecarion emphasized the need to rationalize the use of the Amandayehan Port. He advised those heading to Mindanao or Luzon to take the Calbayog-Ormoc route. The opening of the port in Basey town next week is anticipated to double the number of trucks that will cross between the islands of Leyte and Samar due to the current three-ton load limit at the San Juanico Bridge.

From the current average of 450 trucks carried by RoRo vessels daily through the existing Calbayog-Ormoc-Calbayog route, the number is expected to reach as high as 1,000 daily with the opening of a new route between Tacloban City and Basey, Samar. RoRo vessels can carry up to 600 trucks daily crossing the San Juanico Strait with a travel time of less than 30 minutes, improving the number of trucks going to Samar from Leyte.

The Tacloban-Amandayehan route is the shortest option from Samar to Tacloban for heavy trucks, which have been barred from crossing the 2.16-kilometer 52-year-old San Juanico Bridge since May 15. Since the third week of May, cargo trucks have taken the RoRo route between Calbayog City in Samar and Ormoc City in Leyte, with a 13-hour travel time.

The cost of crossing Samar to Leyte through the existing route from Calbayog City to Ormoc City is PHP17,000 per truck, in addition to the PHP4,000 fare rate between Sorsogon and Northern Samar. Once the Amandayehan Port is opened, the proposed rate of crossing the San Juanico Strait is just PHP3,000 per truck.

When the San Juanico Bridge was closed for several months in 1994, the small port in Amandayehan village was used by barges to carry vehicles from Samar to Tacloban. For several years, the port functioned as a fish landing center.