Designing safe, green and sustainable vessels for Indonesian coastal transport and fishing operations

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago state with 17,508 islands, of which 6,000 are inhabited. This makes sea transportation a major part of people's everyday lives. Furthermore, fishing is extremely important for Indonesia with around 6.4 million people engaging in fishing activities. However, a significant amount of the current fishing fleet is outdated and could be improved to become more efficient and safer to operate. Currently, 28% of fishing boats in use are non-powered boats and 39% are propelled by an out-board engine. Through a detailed understanding of the unique needs of Indonesia and the requirement for the development of sustainable, safe and efficient designs, the capacity of sea trade can be increased, to enhance the current economy and living conditions. This paper outlines the framework and early results of a joint research project (SUVESIN) funded by the British Council’s Newton Fund scheme. The SUVESIN project brings together two reputable research institutions, the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya to achieve the design of safer and more efficient vessels with renewable and locally available raw materials in Indonesia. Within the project, the gap analysis, identification of needs, requirements and opportunities on a renewable and sustainable raw material for Indonesia’s ship industry have been carried out. The background of the project and the early results, including gap analysis, a modern construction process for Indonesia’s ship industry and preliminary results of optimisation of the traditional Indonesian ship are presented in this paper.