A Ministry of Transportation project to produce several container ships to support President Joko Widodo’s Sea Toll development programme is on track to finish by the end of the year.
The ‘Kendhaga Nusantara’ project will include 15 container ships servicing a new route. Details are yet to be announced.
“We will announce the destinations once it is decided,” the Ministry of Transportation’s Public Relations Officer Bambang Sutrisna said.
PT Bandar Abadi was selected during the tender process in August 2015 as one of the shipyard companies tasked with producing a container ship. Construction began December that year and is now just over 67 percent complete. Project manager Benediktus Telauban is optimistic the project will finish ahead of schedule.
“Hopefully it will be completed in July and we will hand it over to the Ministry of Transportation by September 2017,” Telauban said.
Sutrisna said the construction of the 74 metre long and 17.2 metre wide ship has gone smoothly and has not required extra shifts for labourers.
“We were given an abundant amount of time. We can handle little problems here and there,” he said.
Tanjung Perak Port Chief Hari Setyobudi, on behalf of the ministry’s General Director of Sea Transportation Antonius Tonny Budiono, said Rp.1.6 trillion (US$120.3 million) has been invested in the project.
“Production costs will be funded by the state budget and allocated over several years,” Budiono said.
The 15 container ships will serve Sea Toll routes around Java and Eastern Indonesia, but routes around Western Indonesia may be planned in the future, he added.
PT Daya Radar Utama Lamongan will contribute five units to the project, while PT Mariana Bahagia Palembang and PT Industri Kapal Indonesia Makassar will both contribute two. PT Dumas Shipyard Surabaya, PT Janata Marina Indah Semarang and PT KSO Dok Kodja Bahari-Krakatau Shipyard Banten will contribute one unit each. All eight companies are national.
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Image credits: Detik
