text: The M/V St. Joan of Arc – Philippine Ship Spotters Society
  The M/V St. Joan of Arc
  Posted on April 26, 2016 April 26, 2016 by psssadmin
  Image by Mark Edelson Ocul
  The MV St. Joan of Arc, of 2GO Travel was previously known as MV SuperFerry 5 in Aboitiz Shipping Company (ASC), WG&A Philippines and Aboitiz Transport System (ATS). She has the unique distinction as being the only liner left that came before the great liner wars spawned by the Great Merger of 1996 which produced the giant shipping company WG&A Philippines. That distinction was not designed to be hers but as if deemed by the stars, the liner which should be the holding that, the MV St. Thomas Aquinas, sank in a night collision in Cebu. Actually, the two are sister ships but while MV St. Thomas Aquinas was refitted to lengthen her service life and to be more fit for the current era when there are no longer many passengers, the MV St. Joan of Arc spent many of her days anchored in Manila Bay and only sails when 2GO Travel lacks ships especially when one or two are drydocked. Since MV St. Joan of Arc has the ship plan of the ferries of the past, she now also holds the record of being the liner with the most passenger capacity at 2,332 persons. As a matter of fact, she is the only liner now with a capacity of over 2,000 persons. However, it will be lucky now for her if on a voyage she fills more than half of her capacity.
  SuperFerry 5 in Aboitiz colors © Edison Sy
  I had the lucky chance to ride this ship when she was sparkling new. I was on my first trip to Iligan on January 1995 and it was her Voyage #2. She was actually not inaugurated then yet. Her inauguration happened just before Voyage #4 when "Mega" (Ms. Sharon Cuneta, the Aboitiz endorser then) came to North Harbor Pier 4 along with the Aboitiz big bosses for the ceremonies. When I rode workers were still rushing painting and carpentry jobs and the ship reeked of the smell of paint and thinner. The crew also did firefighting drills and it was timed by supervisors or checkers. I did not mind since it was a different ship experience, the crew was very eager and it was my first voyage on a SuperFerry ship. Another new experience for me with this ship on that voyage was when we passed under the two Mactan bridges. We were able to do so because the ship bent and lowered the stern mast to clear the bridges.
  The MV St. Joan of Arc was known as the MV Ferry Hakozaki in Japan when she was built in 1973. She was then owned by Meimon Car Ferry of Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. In 1992, she was chartered to Kansai Kisen where she was known as MV Ferry Cosmo until she was sold to Aboitiz Shipping Company in 1994.
  As Ferry Hakozaki. Credits: DLongly / http://www.naviearmatori.ne
  Like her sister ship MV Ferry Sumiyoshi (which became MV SuperFerry 2 and MV St. Thomas Aquinas), she was built by Onomichi Zosen in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. She was completed on May 1, 1973 and delivered to Meimon Car Ferry on May 28th of the same year. The ship was given the permanent ID IMO 7314371. Her dimensions are 138.6 meters x 22.1 meters x 5.8 meters with an original Gross Register Tonnage (GRT) of 7,309 and Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) of 2,919. She was equipped with two 14-cylinder Mitsubishi-MAN diesel engines with a total horsepower of 15,200 powering two screws which gave her an original top speed of 19 knots. The ship has a steel hull with raked stem and transom stern. Having two ramps at the bow and at the stern, she is a RORO (Roll On-Roll Off) ship. Her original passenger capacity was 900.
  When she came to the Philippines she was refitted for a larger passenger capacity. Scantlings were added and additional passenger accommodations and amenities were built. She became a three passenger-deck ship with an total capacity of 2,464 persons in six different classes: the Suite, the Stateroom, the First Class Cabin, the Tourist, the Economy de Luxe and the Economy. Her Gross Tonnage (GT) rose to 11,638 and her Net Tonnage (NT) to 7,287. However, since her engines are now older and she has more weight, her top speed dropped to 17.5 knots. And for safety purposes, her bow ramp was closed.
  As with the practice then of Aboitiz Shipping Company, the fares were a little cheaper but the meals were not free. Her cafeteria (actually, its dining room), which was centrally located, operated 20 hours and it doubled as the main lounge of the ship where one can stay for as long as he or she wishes. As a SuperFerry, she was a very clean ship and the crew had a higher level of training in passenger service compared to the competition and that was a delight.
  M/V SuperFerry 5 in Iligan, with the classic WG&A livery © port of douglas/Flickr
  She was first assigned the Manila-Cebu-Iligan route, a new route for the revived liner trade of the Aboitiz Shipping Company. When she was transferred to WG&A, she initially had that route, too, until she was assigned to different routes. There was a time she was paired with MV SuperFerry 2 and MV SuperFerry 9 to do the same route on rotation as the three have about the same speed and size. As bigger liners came, she was progressively shunted to her companies' secondary routes like the Tagbilaran, Dumaguete and the Palawan routes (Coron and Puerto Princesa).
  Then came the time when the true intermodal began to weaken the liner sector. To cope with fewer passengers and to increase the container capacity (because her company then already lacked container ships), the Aboitiz Transport System converted a passenger deck of the MV SuperFerry 2, MV SuperFerry 9 and MV SuperFerry 12 into a second cargo deck (called wagon deck in the company). But MV SuperFerry 1, MV SuperFerry 5 and MV SuperFerry 19 did not undergo the same conversion and instead they were advertised for sale. This was also the time that MV SuperFerry 5's engines were growing weaker and so on the fleet she was the least likely to be designated to sail. But as her luck would have it, she was the ship not sold and two of the three converted ships sank.
  SuperFerry 5 in ATS livery, docked at Manila South Harbor © Ken Ledesma
  With the sinking of MV St. Thomas Aquinas and the constructive total loss (CTL) of MV St. Gregory The Great which grounded on a reef, she had to shoulder on although her engines could already be smoky. Recently, however, the former MV SuperFerry 16 which was sold abroad when ship steel prices were sky-high was re-purchased to become the MV St Therese of the Child Jesus of their company 2GO Travel. MV St. Joan of Arc was again anchored and advertised for sale. Many ship spotters and rumors from the company say this could be her final anchoring.
  What does her future hold? She is too big and her engines are too thirsty for an overnight ferry route. Besides, there is no other liner company left in the Philippines to take interest in her. On the other hand, world steel prices are currently very low right now because of the economic slowdown in China and so the foreign shipbreakers might not be too keen on her. Many ship spotters hope that she will have the luck of the like of the MV Our Lady of Medjugorje, a former fleet mate which found a niche in Indonesia even though she is another ferry with a weak and old engine.