Indonesia needs more ships to transport coal: official

Indonesia should provide 390 more vessels to transport coal domestically as the coal loading volume is expected to increase 90 million tons by 2010, Bisnis Indonesia reported Friday.

Director General of Sea Transportation at the Transportation Ministry Effendi Batubara said in Jakarta Thursday that the domestic coal loading volume was expected to grow by 18.9 percent per year.

According to Effendi, the highly needed 390 vessels include 10 of 60,000 DWT Panamax type, 13 of 45,5000 DWT Handymax type, and 367 of tug/barge type.

Effendi explained further that the availability of the fleet was an urgent matter for national shipping companies following the issuance of a policy obliging all domestic commodities to be transported by Indonesian ships, known locally as cabotage principle.

In the case of coal transportation, the policy should be fully implemented by January 1, 2010, said Effendi.

Data at the Directorate General of Sea Transportation at the Transportation Ministry shows that the number of national sea-faring vessels stands at 7,463 per December 31, 2007 compared to 6,041 in 2005 in March 2005 or a 23.54 percent increase. (*)