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Mathai, Mathew --- "Maritime Safety and Passenger Transportation: Focus on Indonesia" [2006] MarStudies 33; (2006) 151 Maritime Studies 16

• Maritime Safety and PassengerTransportation: Focus on Indonesia

Maritime Safety and Passenger
Transportation: Focus on Indonesia

Mathew Mathai^[1]

Three ferry sinkings in Indonesia within a week of New Year’s Day 2007 has left a great sadness in many affected families. These accidents can no longer be termed isolated incidents. Undoubtedly, the safety standards of Indonesia’s domestic transport will come under heavy scrutiny. The rise of budget airlines in Indonesia has put pressure on ferry operators and raised questions about the safety standards of both these modes of transport.

The latest three ferry sinkings were Tristar 1 (sank 28 December 2006); Senopati Nusantara (sank 29 December 2006) and Sinar Baru (sank 1 January 2007). Rough seas and heavy rains were cited as their causes resulting in the latest death toll of over 400 people. In a week of tragic transport disasters for Indonesia, an Adam Air Boeing 737 aircraft with 102 passengers onboard went missing on a flight between Surabaya and Manado in northern Sulawesi.

In the case of the 1972-built Tristar 1, the 288 GRT ferry was on its way from Palembang to Bangka, a voyage of 50 kilometres. According to survivors, the vessel sank in heavy rain and high waves at 2200 local time on 28 December 2006. Some 26 passengers are still missing.

In the case of the 1990-built Senopati Nusantara, the 2178 GRT vessel also sank in heavy rain and rough seas at 2320 hrs on 29 December 2006. Some 400 passengers are still missing. The ferry left Kumai in Central Kalimantan province for a 480 kilometre voyage to Semarang. There were difficulties in determining the exact number of survivors and victims because strong water drift currents in the area has widened the coverage of the search area. Many dead bodies have been swept up on beaches along a coastline nearly 175 kilometres long.

Also the Sinar Baru, en route from Surabaya to Lombok with 11 passengers, went missing at 3:30 am (local time) on Sunday, 1 January 2007 and nine passengers are still missing. It reportedly sank off the resort island of Bali.

Widespread panic is a common feature of ferry accidents. When passengers realise something is wrong, they try to get out through crowded and restricted walkways that may already be blocked by flood waters. Many may not be aware of safe exit routes, especially at night and they become disoriented. In some cases, some of the lifeboats get damaged during the panic of evacuating the ferry. The risk of panic puts a premium on the need for ferry crews to have appropriate training in evacuation procedures.

‘The weather conditions are generally bad as we are in the rainy season,’ Wasito Hadi, head of the Jakarta-based Meteorological and Geophysics Agency’s information department, said by telephone to Bloomberg News. ‘Usually it’s accompanied by hard winds and heavy waves.’

Many Indonesians are anxious to find out if the weather was indeed the cause of these accidents, and if such weather conditions are of a seasonal occurrence, were all precautions and procedures to encounter heavy weather complied with before the boats’ departure from port?

Or could there be other reasons, an opinion column of an Indonesian media asks? Is there serious doubt of the ferries’ capability to perform such voyages? A ferry which appears seaworthy for operation within sheltered river ports may not be seaworthy for operation in open sea.

Ferry accidents occur around the world. However, the waters of the Philippines and Indonesia are particularly prone to these accidents. Ferries connect the thousands of islands, and carry hundreds of thousands of passengers each year.

In recent times, the grim reality is that many more people lose their lives in ferry accidents each year than in aircraft crashes. Considering the first two months of 2006 alone, there were four ferry incidents in Egypt, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Djibouti. A total of 1177 lives were lost as a result of those four incidents.

It is indeed sad to contemplate that these awful incidents seem all but inevitable. Many of the passengers of the Senopati Nusantara were plantation workers. Passenger ferries may perhaps have been running in a chaotic manner especially during festive seasons by owners strapped for cash. The Financial Times of 5 January 2007 quoted a member on the executive board of the Indonesian Land Public Transport Operator’s Association disclosing US$2 billion in illegal levies made by its members to obtain permits from corrupt officials. He was not surprised that transport operators cut corners in order to make a profit.

In the latest string of ferry accidents in Indonesia, national flag vessels were operating domestically within their own waters. Strictly speaking, it means that no report needs to

be given to the International Maritime Organization. Even if it is the case, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos has promised ‘prompt action’ on any lessons learnt from the Indonesian ferry tragedies. Mr Mitropoulos wrote to Hatta Rajasa, Indonesia’s minister for transport to offer IMO’s assistance so that similar accidents are not repeated in the future.

IMO has been working with Interferry, a shipping association representing the ferry industry world-wide to enhance the safety of non-conventional ferries, including domestic passenger ferries. We can only hope ferry accidents seen on this scale in Indonesia provide a powerful impetus behind the collaboration between Interferry and the International Maritime Organization. It does not always need large outlays of cash, but better housekeeping, more resources behind the local surveyors, more effective procedures to prevent overcrowding and better weather forecasting. All can play a part in a speedy improvement in maritime safety and passenger transportation in Indonesia.

^[1] Captain Mathew Mathai is a master mariner who works for the Nippon Maritime Center in Singapore.