Merauke orders two ships

SURABAYA (JP): The Merauke regency administration in Irian Jaya has ordered a passenger vessel and a barge from the East Java-based state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia.

The contract worth Rp 42 billion (US$4 million) for the two ships was signed in Surabaya on Thursday by PAL president Edwin Suryohadiprojo, and Merauke regent Johannes Glube.

The delivery of the passenger vessel with a seating capacity of 200 and the barge with a capacity of 300 tons would be made in 18 months.

"They'll be the first ships that we will have," Johannes Glube said.

PT PAL also delivered on Thursday a container ship, with a capacity of 400 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEUs) to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

The new container ship named Palwo Buwono was later handed over to state owned shipping company PT Djakarta Lloyd.

"The container ship is one of five container ships ordered by the ministry," Edwin said, adding that the other four ships had all been delivered.(Nur/05)