As Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco admitted that there is a need for the government to invest in producing more domestic vessels to improve interisland connectivity, Philippine Economic Zone Authority director-general Tereso Panga supported this, saying that further investments from foreign shipbuilders are needed to replace the aging Philippine vessels.

"We are hearing of companies investing in salvaging or ship repair. Austal Philippines wants to expand because it wants to offer naval vessels to the military. And one company in Visayas is making small boats, like the catamaran type. So, we want to invite them," Panga told reporters.

Austal Philippines was established in Balamban, Cebu in 2012 with the vision to become Austal's global center of excellence for commercial shipbuilding.

Drawing upon the global resources of the Austal Group and utilizing local skills and expertise in design, engineering, and shipbuilding – Austal Philippines has completed several major commercial contracts for vehicle-passenger ferries and offshore support vessels for customers around the world.

Earlier this month, Tourism Secretary Frasco identified the lack of domestic vessels as one of the major challenges to transforming the Philippines into a powerhouse tourism destination.

"Being an archipelagic country, the country needs investments in terms of marine transportation or connectivity by way of sea," Frasco said in a separate media interview.

Backing this, Panga said the Roll-on Roll-off type of vessels will play a crucial role in improving the country's island-to-island connectivity.

"Our vessels are quite old; therefore, the government should come in to facilitate the move to have new domestic vessels. I suppose vessel owners are now being encouraged to upgrade their ships. I think Tsuneishi is looking at that. Apart from the big vessels, they can come up with smaller vessels to cater to the domestic requirements," Panga said.

Located in the town of Balamban, Cebu, Tsuneishi Philippines is equipped with two shipbuilding berths and one building dock to build mainly 180,000-ton-class bulk carriers. The factory can build up to 30 ships a year.

In February this year, the Maritime Industry Authority and its mother agency, the Department of Transportation, launched the Maritime Industry Development Plan 2028 in coordination with relevant government agencies and key stakeholders.

The Philippines through MIDP aims to achieve two core objectives: ensure the development and expansion of the Philippine merchant fleet and ensure the advancement of future-ready maritime human capital.

The MIDP covers eight priority programs that focus on the enhancement of maritime transport security; promotion of environmentally sustainable maritime industry; implementation of maritime innovation and digitalization; expansion of domestic and overseas shipping industry; promotion of competitive workforce; promotion of shipbuilding and ship repair industry; and adoption of the efficient maritime administration governance system.

Nearly 16,000 registered domestic ships are plying the nearly 1,300 inter-island shipping routes across the country as of 31 December 2022.