Fuel Supply Shortage Prevents Fishermen's Vessels in Cirebon from Setting Sail

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CIREBON – Crew members of fishing vessels at Kejawanan Port in Cirebon City are experiencing difficulties in obtaining fuel supplies (BBM). As a result, they are unable to set sail.

One of the vessel managers at Kejawanan Port, Tessy (40), explained that the difficulty in obtaining BBM has been ongoing for the past month. Although she does not know the exact cause of the situation, she has heard that BBM distribution is currently disrupted.

“It might be the impact of the war (US-Israel vs Iran),” she said on Thursday (16/4/2026).

She mentioned that a 30 GT vessel requires 24 kilolitres (KL) of BBM for a single voyage lasting four to five months. However, the current allocation they receive is only 15 KL, which is insufficient for fishing for fish and squid up to the Java Sea.

“BBM is very scarce right now. From the government, we only get 15 KL. We hope it can be increased to 24 KL. If not, at least 20 KL,” she explained.

Not only that, the situation is further exacerbated by the difficulty in obtaining non-subsidised BBM. “The non-subsidised one has no refilling now. It’s been empty for a month,” she said.

In addition, the price of non-subsidised BBM, when it was previously available, was also very burdensome for the fishermen, ranging from Rp 11,000 to Rp 17,000 per litre,” she clarified.

Tessy is not alone in facing these difficulties. On average, each vessel has around 13 crew members (ABK). With more than 100 vessels currently not operating at Kejawanan Port, this means approximately 1,300 ABK are at risk of being idle.