Jakarta, wapresri.go.id – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government is committed to supporting the development of people’s cruises Pelayaran Rakyat (Pelra), but he also warned that the safety and security aspects of ships are highly important.
“Safety is not negotiable,” said the Vice President when receiving members of the central executive board of the Indonesian Pelayaran Rakyat (Pelra) at his office in Jakarta on Wednesday (Sep. 6). Pelra is a traditional voyage with small vessels to serve freight transport to and from remote islands throughout Indonesia that cannot be reached by national shipping vessels.
The Vice President then requested that Pelra be modernized to ensure the safety of the crew and passengers.
Responding to this, Pelra chairman Sudirman Abdullah said that the people’s shipping business currently has problems in revitalizing and developing Perla, mainly because of the difficulty in fulfilling the requirements as regulated in Law Number 17 of 2008 on Shipping.
“The cost of ship docking is very high, while (the certificate) is only valid for one year,” he complained.
Meanwhile, Pelra deputy chairman Amda added that the number of Perla vessels is now reduced, but the carrying capacity increases to 500GT-700GT. Perla vessels, he added, now need renewing. The renewed vessels he said will be less in using wooden materials as they are getting more expensive and rarely available.
On the occasion, Sudirman also invited the Vice President to formally open the National Working Meeting of Pelra which will be held at the end of October 2017.
Also attending the meeting were some of Pelra board members, namely H. Mualimming Daming, Abdul Rahim, and Candra Motik. (AIMS/FM, KIP Setwapres)
