'Awani Dream 2' stops cruising as crisis hits

JAKARTA (JP): The domestic operations of passenger liner Awani Dream 2, owned by PT Awani Modern Indonesia, have run aground on the country's ailing economy and uncertainty over the rupiah's value.

Company sales and marketing director James Hartono said yesterday that the vessel -- which charged passengers in U.S. dollars -- had been leased to cruise in the Mediterranean Sea for an unspecified period.

"We'll bring her back here again after the economic situation returns to normal," James told The Jakarta Post.

The vessel, which has about 250 rooms with various facilities similar to those of a five-star hotel, began operating here in late 1996, replacing the company's first ship, Awani Dream, which has been leased by a foreign party to sail overseas.

Awani Modern Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Modern Group, offered package tours from Jakarta to various destinations, including Puteri Island in the Thousand Islands, Lampung, Krakatau, Semarang, Bali and Singapore at a rate of about $75 per night per person, including breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Indonesian rupiah closed at 12,000 to the U.S. dollar yesterday compared to Rp 2,400 before the monetary crisis first hit the country in early July.

According to James, who is the son of Modern Group's founder Samadikun Hartono, the collapse of the rupiah against the greenback forced the company to seek foreign cooperation to finance overseas routes.

"We hope that the current crisis in our country can be solved as soon as possible," he said.

The temporary halt of the vessel's operation is likely to disappoint the 2,000 Klub Awani members here.

But, Maria, an executive of the company that manages the club, told the Post yesterday that Awani Modern Indonesia had arranged an agreement with at least four resorts, two each in Puncak, West Java, and Malang, East Java.

"Hopefully, by the end of this month, the club members can use those places as a preliminary substitute while our vessel is still overseas," she said.

She, however, refused to name the hotels, saying that the agreements had not yet been finalized. (bsr)