Kodeco Platform Paralyzed After Cargo Vessel Crash

Jakarta Globe, Rizqon Bilhuda | August 15, 2010

Indonesia. Kodeco Energy’s platform off the coast of East Java, about 80 kilometers north of Gresik, has been hit by an unidentified cargo vessel, causing a delay in oil production at the site.

Kodeco, which is involved in oil and natural gas exploration and exploitation in the country, operates under the West Madura production sharing contract.

“At this point, it is understood that Kodesco’s KE 40 [platform] is relatively safe. There has been no loss of life, no oil spill and no fire,” Budi Indianto, the deputy of operations for Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas regulatory body, BPMigas, said on Saturday.

Budi said the regulator had conducted a preliminary inquiry into the incident, which took place on Wednesday, but that more investigation was needed.

Also involved in the investigation are the Directorate General for Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Kodeco Energy and the Coast Guard and Navy, which are searching for the cargo vessel.

“Our investigation of Wednesday’s accident is still continuing,” he said.

Budi said there had been no signs yet of an oil spill but that BPMigas and Kodesco would continue to monitor the site and make the necessary preparations in case a leak was detected later.

He said Kodeco had prepared oil booms to safeguard the location, supported by equipment provided by HESS, Santos, JOB Pertamina-Petrochina East Java and Kangean Energy.

“All the basic equipment was moved to the site just three hours after the incident,” Budi said.

According to the Web site of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the crash caused the platform to tilt by 40 degrees and caused some other damage, forcing the company to stop operations immediately.

The head of public and institutional relations for BPMigas, Elan Biantoro, said it was estimated that the incident might cause a production loss of 1,600 barrels of oil a day, or 15 million standard cubic feet per day.

Elan said that officials were assessing the stability and safety of the damaged platform, to determine where operations would be able to continue.

He predicted that if cleared, it would take two to three weeks before work at the platform could get back to full-scale production.

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Search for missing crew in Bengkulu waters suspended

Antara News, Sunday, March 14, 2010 19:06 WIB

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - Search for 10 crew members of MV "Usaha Muda I" which sank in Ipuh waters, Muko Muko district, Bengkulu province, had been suspended as the vessel ran out of fuel, a naval officer said.

"Two days ago we were conducting a search at the side where the ship went down until 9 nautical miles, but no success," commander of the Ratu Samba naval ship Second Lt Endang Mulyana said here Sunday.

The Search and Rescue (SAR) team will resume searching the missing 10 crew members after the fuel supply had arrived, he said, adding that the ill-fated ship sank on Monday (March 8) while sailing from Jakarta`s Sunda Kelapa seaport to Teluk Dalam port in Nias island, North Sumatra province. Two of the ship`s crew members survived.

According to him, a fisherman claimed to have found what looked like a jerrycan but the person who might have been clinging to it was not in sight.

The search will be continued to the Ketahun waters as far as Rat Island, 9 miles from Bengkulu City, he said.

"Yesterday a search was focused on the center of the waters, tomorrow we will continue our search to the far ends of the waters," he stated.

The fishermen also said the search team had problems with the bad weather and lack of fuel.

Of the 12 crew members, the two survivors are Anto (24) and Panji (27) while the other 10 were still missing, namely Buya, the ship skipper, Safrinul, Samir, Yan, Eko, son, Alexander, Syukur, Ocha and Mamat.

RI soon gets fishing training ship from Spain

Antara News, Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:31 WIB

London (ANTARA News) - Transportation minister Freddy Numberi and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries minister Fadel Muhammad will receive fishing training ship "Medidihang-03" from Spain`s Asturias Gondan Shipyard in the next couple of days.

Both ministers will receive the ship during their visit to Spain from February 21 to 23, said Allen Simarmata, first secretary for education, social and cultural affairs of the Indonesian Embassy in Spain on Sunday, adding that the ship will be used by fisheries college in Jakarta.

According to him, the training ship is a part of Fisheries Development project in Indonesia (FTDI) which was built by the Asturias Gondan Shipyard and financed by soft loans from the Spanish government to the Indonesian government.

Meanwhile, Economic Function Coordinator of the Indonesian embassy in Madrid, Musthofa Taufik Abdul Latif said that the ministers and their entourage on Monday (Feb 22) will observe the Gondan Shipyard in Figueras, Asturias.

Mustofa said that the ship will be used to support the learning process and practices of cadets at the Jakarta Fisheries College and also for the unit of other Education Technical Implementation under the Human Resources Development Agency of Marine and Fisheries.

In addition, ministers Freddy Numberi and Fadel Muhammad on Tuesday will have a meeting with Spanish investors at Spanish Confederation of Employers` Organizations, Diego de Leon, 50 - 28006 Madrid.

Minister Fadel Muhammad on the occasion will deliver his speech about the Indonesia`s economic situation and the projects offered in supporting the program of marine and fisheries ministry.

Government Called On to Intensify Supervision of Foreign Ships

Tempo Interactive, Wednesday, 17 February, 2010 | 15:41 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Kupang :The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Provincial House of Representatives (DPRD) member, Paulinus Domi, said there are still many foreign ships passing the NTT waters freely, especially in the border area between Indonesia and Timor Leste, as well as the area bordering Australia.

Based on a research conducted by private institutions on traffic over the NTT waters, particularly in the border areas, these ships are sailing without the supervision of the relevant authorities. “As a result, NTT is losing up to billions of rupiahs in excises and taxes,” Paulinus said, in Kupang on Wednesday.

These foreign ships are sailing freely because there is lack of supervision from the officials and the regional government, he added.

Paulinus said foreign ships are often found in the waters of Northern Central Timor (TTU) regency and Alor, which borders with Timor Leste. However, he did not mention how many foreign ships were found passing the waters.

Therefore, Paulinus called on the regional government to conduct a research and make register foreign ships that often sail on NTT waters, and the supervision there.

YOHANES SEO

Pelindo I to spend Rp 1.3t in new investment

Nani Alfrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/15/2010 11:48 AM

PT Pelindo I, one of the country’s four state-owned port operators, will spend up to Rp 1.3 trillion (US$139 million) this year to improve several ports under its management, a senior executive said.

Bambang Eka Cahyana, Pelindo I’s director of commercial and business development, said last week that port facilities needed to be further improved to enable them to handle more cargo shipment that was expected to increase significantly following the implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) in early January.

He said ACFTA would increase not only imports but also exports of non-oil commodities from Indonesia to other ASEAN members and China.

“This year we allocated Rp 1.3 trillion in capex [capital expenditure], which is higher than the Rp 149 billion last year,” he said, adding that about Rp 800 billion of the total funds would be sourced internally, with the rest from bank loans.

Pelindo I operates and manages several major ports in North Sumatra and Riau, including Belawan Port and Belawan International Container Terminal (BICT), Dumai Port and Pekanbaru Port.

It also supervises 16 small ports such as Pelita Pantai Port and Sungai Duku Port in Riau.

Bambang said that this year, the company would spend Rp 700 billion to purchase new port equipment.

“This year we plan to buy two container cranes and five rubber-tired gantries. We hope to be able to operate five cranes and ten gantries by the second half of 2011,” he said, adding that in 2009, the company purchased three cranes and two gantries.

According to Bambang, Pelindo I will need more funds to purchase such equipment because they were expensive. “A crane costs $9.5 million, while a gantry costs $ 2 million,” he said.

The company will also purchase three new tugboats and two scout ships to speed up docking activities. Bambang said that the price of a new tugboat could reach Rp 25 billion while a new scout boat could cost Rp 2 billion.

Apart from procuring supporting equipment for the ports, Pelindo I plans to expand capacity at BICT port from 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 800,000.

Tanjung Priok Offers Indonesia New Car Shipment Service

Jakarta Globe, Irvan Tisnabudi, February 14, 2010

Honda Freed minivans due to be exported to Singapore prior to loading at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta. The state-owned port operator hopes the volume of vehicle traffic through the port grows as a result of its new transshipment service. (Bloomberg Photo/Dimas Ardian)

The Tanjung Priok port car terminal on Thursday began offering new transshipment services in a bid to challenge rival regional ports.

Richard Lino, president director of state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, said the new service and the port’s strategic location would help it compete against ports in Singapore and Malaysia.

“In the past, car exporters in countries like India and Thailand have used the transshipment service in those two countries [Singapore and Malaysia], but Indonesia now has a similar service,” he said.

Transshipment is the shipment of goods to an intermediate destination for later shipment to another locale. It is often used to gather multiple small shipments headed to a single destination into a bigger shipment.

Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said he believed the transshipment service for cars would make the Tanjung Priok port more attractive than its rivals.

“The Tanjung Priok port has always been an attractive port for shipping vehicles to and from Southeast Asia and Australia, as it is more strategic in terms of location compared to its rivals,” he said.

Pelindo II did not reveal the price or nature of the investment required to begin offering transshipment services.

The first ship to use the new service was the Golden Fang out of India. It unloaded 394 of its 1,091 cars onto the Rocky Highway ship, heading to New Zealand and Australia. The rest were unloaded for sale on Indonesia’s domestic market.

“The tariff for unloading, then loading the car again is Rp 600,000 [$64] per car,” said Gunta Prabawa, chief of the port’s car terminal.

The port can unload 130 cars per hour and load 90 per hour. The terminal has a parking capacity of 6,000 cars.

In 2009, a total of 112,983 cars passed through the terminal: 55,670 were imported and 57,313 were exported. This was a sharp decline from 180,000 in 2008.

Aviliani, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, welcomed the new transshipment service.

“It provides a more efficient cost alternative for the exporters, and we’ll be able to enjoy the added revenue from the shipments,” she said.

However, she cautioned that the service presented a challenge also: loading and unloading the increased number of cars with appropriate care.

“We can’t fall behind the ports in Malaysia in Singapore when it comes to fulfilling international standards for the cars being loaded and unloaded here,” Aviliani said.

BPMigas Seeks Cabotage Exemption for Some Foreign-Owned Oil and Gas Ships

Jakarta Globe, Yessar Rossendar, February 07, 2010

Seismic Vessels

Upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas is seeking to make certain high-tech foreign vessels rented by oil and gas companies exempt from restrictions on domestic shipping set to be implemented next year.

BPMigas deputy chairman Hardiono said on Friday that the regulator had asked the Ministry of Transportation for an exemption because oil and gas companies were concerned that domestic shipping companies would not be able to meet their needs for such high-tech vessels, and that this would curtail investment in the vital sector. The ships in question, rig and seismic vessels, are typically rented from foreign-owned shipping companies for six months or less.

Since 2005, the government has been gradually implementing cabotage, a ban on foreign-owned ships carrying goods between ports in Indonesia, to boost the underdeveloped domestic shipping industry.

The final phase of its implementation will come into force in January next year, requiring oil and gas companies to use only domestically owned ships.

However, Sunaryo, the Transportation Ministry’s director general of sea transportation, said the ministry was unlikely to grant any exemptions to the cabotage rules. He said there was still time for local companies to buy the high-tech vessels or for foreign shipping companies to transfer the vessels to Indonesian owners.

“I encourage the local shipping companies to buy the high-tech vessels,” Sunaryo said.

Hardiono said several oil and gas companies had expressed concern about the potential difficulties of renting high-tech vessels from domestic companies. “Two out of four investors in the Kangean oil and gas block off Madura have pulled back from their plans to invest in the block” because of their concerns, he said.

Because rig and seismic vessels are typically only used for short time periods, and are rented to companies all over the world, it would be inefficient for Indonesian shipping companies to buy them, Hardiono said. However, BPMigas supported the introduction of cabotage rules for other types of ships in the oil and gas industry, he added.

Johnson W Sutjipto the head of the Indonesian National Ship Owners Association said domestic companies did not have enough rig and seismic vessels to service the oil and gas industry.

However, he said they would invest in these vessels because of the huge potential in the oil and gas sector.

“I’m optimistic that the vessels will be available in time, so that it will not slow down investment,” he said.

Navy patrol arrests illegal coal carrying tugboat

Antara News, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 03:08 WIB

Surabaya (ANTARA News) - An Indonesian navy patrol boat arrested a coal-carrying vessel in the Sulawesi strait after all the ten crew members of the tugboat were unable to produce legal papers.

Spokesman for the Eastern Fleet Command Lt Col Toni Saiful said here Monday the tugboat is now in the custody of the Tarakan naval base in East Kalimantan.

The tugboat had 8,000 tons of coal in its holds when stopped by the navy patrol boat when sailing from Nunukan to Tarakan.

For further investigation, the tugboat is currently held at the Tarakan naval base.

11 Indonesians Missing After Tugboat Capsizes Off Singapore

Jakarta Globe

Eleven Indonesians were missing and two others were rescued after a Singapore-registered tugboat capsized Wednesday in waters off the city-state, authorities said.

The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said a passing supply vessel rescued two people from the tugboat who were aboard a life raft about 16 nautical miles east of Pedra Branca island where Singapore operates a lighthouse.

The pair told the authorities that 13 people were aboard their capsized boat.

“The remaining 11 are still unaccounted for. A search and rescue operation by MPA, the Republic of Singapore Air Force, Republic of Singapore Navy and commercial vessels is currently underway,” Singapore’s port authority said.

“Assets deployed include a helicopter and patrol vessels. MPA has issued navigational broadcasts to vessels in the vicinity to assist with the search and rescue.”

All of the 13 are Indonesians, the authority added.

MPA said it has also informed maritime authorities in neighbouring Indonesia about the incident. The tugboat was on its way from Batam, Indonesia to Matak, also in Indonesia. Batam is less than an hour by ferry from Singapore.

AFP

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Dutch tanker escapes pirates

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 4 January 2010 - 4:19pm, by Eelco Walraven

The Dutch tanker Album came under attack by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. Job, the ship’s captain, tells his story.

During the monthly security meeting on 29 December it is announced that the Album is to load at the Saudi port of Yanbu on 6 January. The cargo is bound for Singapore, which means the tanker will have to pass twice through the Gulf of Aden, the area in which Somali pirates are active.

Because the first convoy through the Gulf of Aden is only due to leave on 2 January at 9.00am, I decide not to sail for Yanbu under escort by a Chinese warship, because the tanker would then arrive late. “Anyway, a ship in ballast is faster and easier to manoeuvre. What’s more, the pirates would have to climb nearly 13 metres, so I expected they would go for an easier target.”

Intimidate

The Album opts to set off with four other tankers. “I tell the crew there’s a good chance that in an attack the pirates will fire on the ship to intimidate us and make the tanker stop, so anyone who isn’t needed on the bridge or in the engine room should go to the galley. Because of its central location, it’s the safest place on board.

On 30 December at 9.15am the helmsman on the bridge sights a fishing boat. “Somali pirates use fishing boats as mother ships. This allows them to work 600 miles off the coast. The fishing boats are equipped with a so-called skiff, a polyester speedboat measuring five to six metres with a powerful outboard motor, which can make 25 knots in a calm sea.”

“In less than ten minutes we see the skiff heading for us, but because of the waves it isn’t making much headway. To be on the safe side, I change course by 90 degrees, so I’m sailing directly into the waves.” This makes it harder for the pirates to draw alongside. “On both port and starboard they then have to deal with around two-metre waves.”

Water on deck

“Anyone with no special task goes to the galley. The engineers start the extra generator, to give us enough power to use two steering engines so the rudder moves faster. The first helmsman comes up with the idea of opening the ballast tanks.” The ballast pump is started and within a few minutes the seawater from the tanks is pouring over the deck. “The water is meant to deter the pirates – not because they don’t like getting wet, but because their skiff is an open boat and they don’t want it full of water.”

While the radio operator sends out distress signals, the captain informs the shipping company in Cairo. “Although there’s someone there to answer the phone day and night, I get someone who doesn’t seem to understand much English, so I switch my attention to the ship.”

Helmsmanship

Because the Album keeps on determinedly sailing ahead, the pirates fire a grenade over the ship. “Because I don’t stop, the game starts in earnest.” The ship comes under grenade fire and the pirates also use their AK-47. “They get closer and closer. Now it’s down to my helmsmanship and even more to pure luck.”

“When the pirates try to board the ship on the port side, you can turn the rudder hard to starboard. The waves then become smooth on the starboard side, but to port, close to the hull, it gets rougher. But when you turn the ship this quickly you lose a lot of speed, and the lower your speed the easier it is for the pirates to get on board.”

Relief

Twice I turn the rudder hard, and the tactic works: after three quarters of an hour the pirates give up. The crew on board breathes a sigh of relief: the damage is not too bad. “I have the feeling the pirates only fired to intimidate us. They could easily have fired on the wheelhouse windows with their AK-47, but they didn’t. It’s my impression that they weren’t out to hit people, that they deliberately avoided it.”

“We were lucky this time, but once is enough for me. I decided to abandon the group of five tankers we were supposed to be going to the Gulf of Aden with. Instead I’ve opted for the greater security of the convoy with the Chinese warship. And if we dock 18 hours later in Yanbu, then so be it.”

Indonesia and US to Launch Joint Ocean Research Expedition

Jakarta Globe

NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer

Indonesia has given permission to the United States to begin joint ocean exploration and research activities between the two countries.

The expedition, which will start in May this year and end in August, will take place along the Sangihe Talaud coast in North Sulawesi.

Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said that the research would cover aspects such as hydrothermals, oceanic mapping, oceanography, flora and fauna, mineral potential and sea exploration technology.

The exploration will cost $1.6 million. The US will use an ocean research ship named INGOOS-OKEANOS Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Ocean Exploration (SATAL) 2010.

They will be assisted by an Indonesian team consisting of researchers from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The team will use the Baruna Jaya ship.

“We will start exploring areas in Indonesian oceans which have potential and have not been explored before. We hope to find a lot of new discoveries,” Jane said in Jakarta on Monday.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad said the operation was a part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the ministry and NOAA.

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Somali pirates seize Indonesian chemical tanker

BBC News

Somali pirates have hijacked a chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden - the third vessel seized in waters around Somalia this week.

Maritime officials said the Pramoni - a 20,000-tonne Indonesian-owned vessel - was seized en route to India and was now heading towards Somalia.

The ship has a crew of 24, most of whom are Indonesian.

Last Monday Somali pirates captured two other ships with 45 crew off the East African coast.

A UK-flagged chemical tanker, the St James Park, was captured in the Gulf of Aden while on its way to Thailand from Spain.

The Navios Apollon, a Panamanian-flagged Greek cargo ship with 19 crew, was hijacked north of the Seychelles.

In the latest incident, the captain of the Singapore-flagged Pramoni reported by radio that the ship had been hijacked but all the crew were well, the EU counter-piracy force Navfor said.

The ship's crew consists of 17 Indonesians, five Chinese, one Nigerian and one Vietnamese, it added.

Pirate attacks are common off the Somali coast and international navies have been deployed to counter them.

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Singapore-flagged ship seized in Gulf of Aden

Antara News, Saturday, January 2, 2010 07:32 WIB

London (ANTARA News/Reuters) - A Singapore-flagged chemical tanker was hijacked on Friday in the Gulf of Aden and was heading towards Somalia, a European Union counter-piracy force said.

Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars from seizing ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, linking Europe to Asia, and are also hunting far into the Indian Ocean to evade foreign navies sent to protect commercial shipping.

The M/V Pramoni, a chemical tanker of 20,000 dead weight tonnes, was hijacked when it was headed for Kandla in India, EU Navfor, based at Northwood, near London, said in a statement.

The ship has a crew of 24, including 17 Indonesians, five Chinese, one Nigerian and one Vietnamese, it said.

The ship's master reported by radio that the ship had been hijacked and all the crew were well, EU Navfor said.

On Monday, Somali pirates seized another chemical tanker and a cargo ship, underlining the risk to shipping on some of the world's busiest maritime trade routes. The pirates hold more than 10 vessels.

Banda Aceh being prepared to become hard port city

Antara News, Saturday, December 26, 2009 22:44 WIB

Banda Aceh (ANTARA News) - Banda Aceh is being prepared to have a seaport for very large ships by 2014, Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf said here Saturday.

"We are preparing Banda Aceh to have a hard port or a seaport for very large ships, ships too large to pass through the Malacca Strait," the governor said.

He said Banda Aceh was strategically located to serve as point of transit for very large ships and could thus also become a gateway to western Indonesia, a position now held by Medan in North Sumatra.

The existence of such a seaport was expected to boost Aceh province`s economic activities through its multiplier effect, Irwandi said.

The Aceh provincial government now already had a master-plan related to the envisaged hard port which included the construction of various supporting facilities.

Among those facilities would be an oil refinery and an oil storage complex on Sabang Island to supply fuel to feeder ships from China and Singapore.

Irwandi said the hard port plan had been devised also in anticipation of the free trade era beginning in 2012.

"The hard port may not yet be fully ready by 2012 but it must be by 2014," he said.

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Oceanic Viking refugees bound for Aust

Bigpond News, Sunday, December 20, 2009 - 07:06am

15 refugees among the 78 Tamils involved in the Oceanic Viking stand-off are bound for Australia again.

Fifteen Sri Lankan refugees have left Indonesia for Canada and Australia two months after they were rescued at sea by an Australian customs vessel.

The 15 are among 78 Tamils involved in the Oceanic Viking stand-off with the Australian government.

Indonesian officials say 13 are going to resettle in Canada and two in Australia.

Australia picked up the Tamils in international waters inside Indonesia's search and rescue zone in October and took them to the Indonesian island of Bintan.

But the Tamils refused to leave the Australian vessel and enter Bintan's detention centre sparking a four-week stand-off.

Customs office gets vessel to fight smugglers, poachers

Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya | Thu, 12/17/2009 1:58 PM

The customs and excise office on Thursday received a 38-meter speedboat from state shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia to operate out of Tanjung Balai Karimun Port and patro for smugglers and poachers.

"We need vessels that can maneuver and quickly detect smuggling, which is growing more varied," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in her speech at the PAL office in Surabaya.

She added Indonesia's large maritime area needed better supervision from the customs and excise office to protect the economy.

PAL is scheduled to deliver another two vessels of the same type early next year to the customs and excise office.

PAL to cut more than one-third of employees

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 12/17/2009 9:39 AM

State shipping company PT PAL Indonesia confirmed Wednesday its plan to cut more than one-third of its 2,400 employees next year as part of a restructuring program after receiving fresh government capital.

“After the restructuring, we should ideally employ about 1,500 only,” PAL president director Harsusanto told reporters after signing a credit agreement between PAL and state asset management PT PPA in the office of the SOE Ministry on Wednesday.

The state’s largest shipping company decided last May to introduce one day off work every week for up to 800 of its 2,400 employees, as part of efforts to cut costs.

PAL has been in financial trouble since making a contract for the construction of 20 vessels in 2006 on a flat price without taking US dollar fluctuations into consideration. This deal later prompted currency losses for the company, helping causing the current financial problem.

As a consequence, the company posted Rp 443 billion (US$46.9 million) in losses in 2007 and Rp 46 billion in 2008. PAL now owes $120 million in short-term debts to local private and state banks as of 2009.

On Wednesday, the government, through PPA, injected about $45 million in the firm. “About $25.6 million will be allocated for construction of ten ships, with Rp 193.37 billion for restructuring the ailing company,” PPA president director Boyke Mukijat said.

Harsusanto revealed Wednesday that PAL planned to create a new policy on financing before building ships for their clients in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

“We will adjust the contracts following international practice, including imposing down-payments,” Harsusanto said.

Currently the company still has 18 unfinished orders. Two vessels ordered by the Navy, four escort tugs each ordered by energy company BP Plc and three 38-meter boats ordered by the customs and excise office. There is another order for a 50,000 dead weight ton (DWT) vessels ordered by a Turkish private company.

The company is targeting to finish 14 vessels by the end of 2011.

Harsusanto revealed that PAL was aiming at several contracts in 2010, including a missile-equipped warship worth $240 million for the Navy, tankers for state gas and oil producer PT Pertamina and a-60 meter ship for the Maritime Affairs and Fishery Ministry (DKP).

This year PAL is targeting to gain 1.6 trillion in revenue up from Rp 1.2 trillion booked in 2008.

India to 'fence' naval harbours

BBC News, Delhi, By Sunil Raman

Mumbai's police have acquired new craft to patrol the city's coastline

India is planning to secure its naval harbours with electronic fences, the BBC has learnt.

The fences are part of the Integrated Harbour Defence System to secure the harbours "against clandestine threat from sea", security officials say.

It is part of a plan to protect the country's coastline after November 2008's deadly attacks in Mumbai.

Ten gunmen had used boats to sail into Mumbai and carried out the attacks which killed over 170 people.

The Integrated Harbour Defence System will have diver detection sonars, high resolution radars with shore-based command and control system, among other things, officials said.

Radars will also be installed at distances of every 80km (50 miles) on the coastline.

The sonars and radars will pick up any movement near the harbour up to a distance of 70km (43 miles).

'Not enough'

The electronic sea fences will be fixed on the sea bed close to a harbour to stop any diver or a boat from swimming or sailing through.

Only when a warship or a boat enters or leaves the naval harbour would the "electronic net" will be lifted for the ship to sail through.

Officials say India is also ordering sophisticated equipment to secure its 7,500km (4,660 miles) coastline dotted with nearly 200 ports.

The government plans to install transponders on every fishing vessel and trawler that sails into the high seas, officials say.

Mumbai alone has over 24,000 fishing vehicles, and Gujarat another 45,000 vehicles.

An Indian fishing vessel was hijacked in the seas off Gujarat by the gunmen who attacked Mumbai.

Former Indian intelligence chief Arun Bhagat is, however, sceptical about the measures to secure the coastline.

"The urgency which should have propelled state governments after the Mumbai attacks did not last long," Mr Bhagat said.

"Except for some states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, other coastal states have done little".

Major Indonesian Seaports Now Open Around the Clock

The Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari

Jakarta's Tanjung Priok and three other ports around the country will now operate 24 hours a day. (Photo: Antara)

Four major domestic seaports will now be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week as part of a government plan to increase trade, Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said on Wednesday.

“This is to boost our export and import activities,” he said.

The four ports are Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, Belawan in Medan, North Sumatra, Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, East Java and Soekarno-Hatta in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

The move comes after the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and other business organizations called for working hours to be extended at the country’s ports earlier this month.

Operations at the four ports would be open not only for ship docking but also for customs and immigration activities, Freddy said. “This way, if a cargo ship arrives at 2 a.m., it can immediately be served,” he said, adding that it could also avoid vessels from docking for too long as a result of delays.

Freddy said he hoped service would be improved if ports were open for 24 hours.

Sunaryo, director general of maritime transportation at the Transportation Ministry, said the infrastructure to open the seaports around the clock was adequate.

“All we have to do is coordinate with customs,” he said.

The hardest part would be to provide 24-hour manpower to load and unload vessels, Sunaryo said. “That should be synchronized with the Manpower Ministry,” he said.

On the other hand, Sunaryo said, the Transportation Ministry’s initiative could create more jobs, especially for people living near the ports.

The plan is currently in a test phase and would be officially implemented next January, Freddy said.

Richard J Lino, chairman of state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, said it would take a long time to get all relevant agencies, including customs, immigration, and quarantine services, to coordinate their work activities at the seaports.

“They need time to adjust,” he said.

The government also wants to establish an international-standard port in Indonesia to function as hub port for the wider region.

PT Pelindo II has been pushing for Tanjung Priok to be that port. Lino said he hoped Tanjung Priok would be ready to operate as an international hub port by 2014.

Renovating the port, he said, would take five years and cost up to Rp 7 trillion ($749 million).

An archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia relies heavily on sea transportation. Millions of people and tons of cargo are delivered every day using big vessels and small ships.

Pelindo II manages ports across Indonesia, including in Banten, Palembang in South Sumatra as well as Teluk Bayur seaport in West Sumatra, and Sunda Kelapa port in North Jakarta.