Indonesia

Key information

  • Flag:Indonesia Flag
  • Population:250,000,000 (approx.)
  • Coastline:Over 108,000km
  • Maritime Authority:Directorate General Of Sea Transportation (DGST)

About

Comprised of thousands of islands, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic State. The country has one of the most diverse marine and coastal ecosystems in the world and has a sea area of 6,400,000 km2. Most of the population live in coastal communities and has a large seafaring community with more than 900,000 people currently engaged in both international and domestic shipping.

As a petroleum and natural gas producer, Indonesia has 97 international bunkering ports and 141 oil terminals. It also has a number of cruise ship terminals for international cruise vessels. These maritime-related activities help support the country’s trade and economy, particularly in terms of foreign exchange generated from shipping and port services as well as the creation of employment opportunities.

Ports Of Indonesia

Indonesia maintains hundreds of ports and terminals which are supervised by 260 port administrations and five sea and coast guard bases.

Flag / Port State Responsibilities

The Directorate General of Sea Transportation (DGST) is responsible for registering ships under the Indonesian flag and the exercise of flag and port State functions. The DGST’s role is to ensure that all Indonesian-registered ships comply with national and international rules and regulations on safety, security and marine environment protection. The various Directorates of DGST undertake these functions through the conduct of ship inspection, audit, statutory certification and setting of the conditions for the registration, management and operation of Indonesian-flagged ships. DGST has 1050 surveyors who carry out ship inspections/surveys.

Supplementing the manpower of the DGST is the classification society, the Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia, which is authorized to inspect ships and issue statutory certificates. In addition, the DGST has authorized the Directorate of the Sea and Coast Guard (SCG) to handle port control activities over foreign-registered ships calling at Indonesia ports. The SCG also represent Indonesia at the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding meetings.

Merchant Fleet

Indonesia’s merchant fleet consists of 11,961 ships totalling 16,969,996 of gross tonnage. With the adoption of the cabotage principle reserving ownership, management and operations of ships operating in Indonesian waters to nationals of Indonesia, almost 99% of domestic shipping is served by Indonesian-registered ships.

Laws & Regulations

In recent years, the Indonesian government has been giving special attention to pollution caused by ships’ discharges as the country attempts to balance protection of the environment with socio-economic interests. A programme was developed to promote the sustainable use of the marine environment and, as of 2017, a total area of 19,144,694.28 hectares has been declared as a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

The Directorate of Shipping and Seafarers formulates and implements policies, standards, guidelines and procedures applicable to Indonesian-flagged ships. Aside from the DGST, other government agencies and members of the industry are involved in environment protection activities, such as the Ministry of Environment (MOE), classification societies and academics. Indonesia’s maritime transport policy continues to be under constant development.

International / Regional / Sub-Regional Memberships / Cooperation

  • International Maritime Organization (IMO) – Member
  • Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Member
  • ASEAN Maritime Transport Working Group (MTWG) – Member
  • Cooperative Mechanism (CM) – Established with Malaysia and Singapore (The CM provides the basis of cooperation among the littoral States, User States, Shipping Industry and other stakeholders to enhance the safety of navigation and marine environment protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.)

IMO Conventions and Protocols

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