The Iloilo Strait is a strait in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

that separates the islands of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

and

Guimaras Guimaras , officially the Province of Guimaras ( hil, Kapuoran sang Guimaras; tl, Lalawigan ng Guimaras), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Jordan while its largest local government ...

in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands ( Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, i ...

, and connects the Panay Gulf with the Guimaras Strait. It is the location of the

Port of Iloilo The Port of Iloilo (Spanish: ''Puerto de Iloilo'') in Iloilo City, Philippines, serves the province and city of Iloilo and the entire Panay Island, in Western Visayas of the Philippines. It is located away from the older port facilities on t ...

, the third-busiest of the ports in the Philippines in number of ships.

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo ( hil, Siyudad/Dakbanwa sang Iloilo; fil, Lungsod ng Iloilo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines on the island of Panay. It is the capital city of ...

on Panay is the major city located on the strait with Buenavista and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

, both on Guimaras, immediately across the strait from the city. The

Iloilo River The Iloilo River is an estuary river located in the province of Iloilo, in Western Visayas, Philippines. The river starts in Oton at the Batiano estuary, then traverses through the Iloilo City districts of Lapuz, La Paz, Mandurriao, Molo, Arev ...

empties into the strait. Iloilo City-080701-N-0640K-527

Pump boat ferries cross every few minutes from Iloilo City to Guimaras and vice versa. Ships doing business with the Port of Iloilo often moor in the strait.

History

2GO Cargo Ship in Iloilo Strait with pumpboat

The

was opened for international trade in 1855 and the coming of British Vice-consul

Nicholas Loney Nicholas Loney (1826, Plymouth, United Kingdom – 23 April 1869, Mount Kanlaon, Negros Island, Philippines) was an English businessman and the British Empire's vice-consul in the city of Iloílo. Early life The younger son of Admiral Robert Lon ...

, a year later, led to the fast development of the sugar industry in the region.

Incidents

2GO Travel Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * ''Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position lo ...

's ferry ''St. Gregory The Great'' nearly capsized on 15 June 2013, when it struck rocks under the water near the Siete Picados Islands.

Iloilo Strait Tragedy

In midday of August 3, 2019, two motor boats "Chi-chi" (43 passengers on board) & "Keziah 2" (with only 4 crews survived) bounded to

Jordan, Guimaras Jordan (), officially the Municipality of Jordan ( hil, Banwa sang Jordan; tl, Bayan ng Jordan), is a 3rd class municipality and capital of the province of Guimaras, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 39,566 people ...

were capsized due to strong southwest monsoon winds enhanced by Tropical Depression "Hanna" (Int'l name Lekima). Several hours after an incident another motorboat from Buenavista, Guimaras named "Jenny Vince" (40 passengers on board) were also capsized due to strong winds. 31 passengers were perished in tragedy including teachers.

2020 Iloilo Oil Spill Incident

The incident happened in Friday afternoon (July 3, 2020) where one of the two power barges of National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) exploded spilling an estimated 251,000 liters of fuel by Saturday morning. Nobody was injured, but by Sunday morning, about 400 residents were evacuated amid the spreading smoke from the bunker fuel, according to the Iloilo City Risk Reduction Management Office. Some 179,300 liters of bunker fuel were collected from the water's surface on Sunday, according to a report by the Coast Guard station in Iloilo.

References

External links