By Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — Philippine Navy (PN) ships can help provide drinking water to coastal communities that might be severely affected by the ongoing El Niño, Navy spokesperson, Capt. Jonathan Zata, said Friday.
“Our logistics ships are capable of storing and producing fresh water primarily for its operations but it can be used to assist communities while they are in port by providing freshwater. We have on board desalination systems to convert saltwater into freshwater,” Zata said in a message to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) when asked what the PN can do to help mitigate the effects of the weather phenomenon.
Logistic ships refer to the two brand-new strategic sealift vessels, the BRP Tarlac (LD-601) and BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602), and the Bacolod-class vessels, which consist of BRP Bacolod City (LC-550) and BRP Dagupan City (LC-551).
“The Navy has the capacity to assist coastal communities similar to what was done in helping communities in Tacloban after the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda (in Nov. 8, 2013),” he added.
The Tarlac-class strategic sealift vessels each has a gross tonnage of 7,400 tons and an overall length of 120 meters, breadth of 21 meters, draft of five meters, and can carry a payload of 2,800 tons.
The ships have a cruising speed of 13 knots, maximum speed of 16 knots, and minimum operating range of 7,500 nautical miles. The two were acquired in 2016 and 2017.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod City-class logistic support vessels has a displacement of 4,265 tons at full load, is 273 feet long, has a draft of 12 feet, and has a top speed of 12 knots. It was commissioned in the PN in the 1990s.