AS MORE hotels look for convenient ways to ferry its guests amid the traffic congestion, a local boat building company saw the need to increase its production of aluminum boats used for transport.

Jessica Barbier, president of Aluporter Group Inc., said the industry continues to grow steadily as demands for boats to ferry tourists from one point to another remain constant in the market.

“The boat building industry is quite a growing market, particularly in the development of tourism in the Philippines. There are more resorts and more tourists that come every year now that the airport can accommodate a lot more people,” she said.

Aluporter Group specializes in building and designing premium quality and customized marine aluminum powerboats for recreational and commercial purposes.

The firm recently partnered with Suzuki Philippines Inc. for the opening of its marine and servicing center on Monday, July 29, 2019 at Porter Marina, Liloan, Cebu.

With the chronic traffic congestion on major thoroughfares in the province, Barbier said traveling by sea is the best option for the public.

“Basically, boat travel has become a necessity. We’ve been getting a lot of requests for taxi boats and dive boats,” she said.

The company caters to both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets which include hotels in Mactan Island.

“The advantage that we have is we’re locally made and the Maritime Industry Authority is very supportive of local builders. It’s nice to be able to produce quality boats for the industry here especially for the safety perspective because we build aluminum boats,” she said.

Compared to fiber glass boats, aluminum lasts for 10 to 20 years without much maintenance since its material is resistant to corrosion to saltwater.

However, Barbier said the industry’s concern is the lack of shipyards in the province that will serve as docking areas.

“For private owners who want to have their boats here or even hotel business owners who don’t have necessarily big ferry boats, we’re starting to get congested,” she said.

Barbier said they have also expanded operations for a comprehensive range of trade of maritime goods and services in the Visayas region.