2GO Masagana is a passenger ferry and flagship of the Philippine shipping company 2GO Travel that went into service in 2003.[2][3][4] She was originally known as Tsukushi of Hankyu Ferry.
She is the sister ship of MV 2GO Maligaya, formerly Yamato, also from Hankyu Ferry. She was acquired by 2GO a few months after 2GO Maligaya. The difference between the two sister ships is the on the ships' livery design, which has a few modifications and tweaks, and after 2023, MV 2GO Maligaya's third passenger deck was expanded making it longer than her sister.
MV 2GO Masagana as Tsukushi when she was still in Japan.
In the early 2000s, Hankyu Ferry planned to replace the sister ships New Harima and New Seto on the route between Kobe and Kitakyushu with newer and more efficient vessels.
Based on the design of the company’s then-recent ships Ferry Settsu and Ferry Suō, the new vessels, later named Yamato and Tsukushi, were planned to be slightly larger. Their overall length was set at 195 meters, allowing for an increased rolling cargo capacity of approximately 229 trailers. Externally, the two ships retained the general silhouette of their predecessors, including a single funnel, but were distinguished by the absence of side ventilation openings along the upper car deck, giving the hull a more solid, continuous appearance.
The interior layout was largely derived from the earlier vessels, but incorporated several enhancements. These included an indoor sea-view promenade, a feature inspired by the ships of Shin Nihonkai Ferry, a sister company of Hankyu Ferry. Although the total passenger capacity was reduced to 667, the quality of accommodation was significantly upgraded. Notably, the public bath facilities were relocated to provide direct views of the sea.
Unlike the previous vessels in the fleet, which had been built at the Kanda Shipyards, the new ships were constructed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at its Shimonoseki facility. Tsukushi was laid down on December 6, 2002, and launched on February 20, 2003. Following approximately four months of fitting-out work, the ship was delivered to Hankyu Ferry during the month of June.
The Tsukushi entered service on June 12, 2003, operating on the Kobe-Kitakyushu route as the replacement for New Seto, which was sold to WG&A Philippines and became the MV SuperFerry 18. It joined its sister ship, Yamato (now MV 2GO Maligaya), which had entered service three months earlier.
In the late 2010s, Hankyu Ferry continued its fleet renewal plan, which had begun in 2015 with the introduction of the sister ships Izumi and Hibiki, by ordering a new pair of car ferries intended to replace the Yamato and Tsukushi.
However, unlike Yamato, which was sold overseas, Tsukushi was initially planned to be retained by Hankyu Ferry in 2020, in order to bolster the Osaka route, which at the time was experiencing growth in both freight and passenger traffic with the expected entry into service of the new Yamato. The ship was also scheduled to be fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubbers) on its funnel. The ship was planned to be transferred to the Izumi - Ōtsu - Shinojima (Shin-moji) route in the fall of the same year.
However, this growth was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a sharp decline in passenger numbers and the cancellation of the additional voyages originally planned for the vessel.[5] Tsukushi was therefore retained as a reserve ship and used to cover maintenance periods of other vessels in the fleet, particularly the sister ships Izumi and Hibiki, which were fitted with scrubbers between August and October. It also temporarily replaced Settsu and the new Yamato during their respective technical lay-ups in early 2021.
Tsukushi completed its final crossing for Hankyu Ferry on March 22, 2021, on the Kobe–Kitakyushu route. In April 2021, the vessel was sold to the Philippine shipping company 2GO Group, which had already acquired her sister ship Yamato several months earlier.[6][7] The ship was renamed as MV 2GO Masagana.[8][9]
In 2023, during her drydock, an escalator was added to make boarding much easier and efficient.
Onboard
2GO Masagana has a total of eight accessible decks, although the vessel structurally spans ten decks. Decks 1 to 4 serve as car decks for rolling cargo. Passenger accommodations are located on Decks 5, 6, and 7, while crew quarters are situated forward on Deck 7 and aft on Deck 5.
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