Minister Orders Stricter Safety Oversight for Transport in Riau Islands, from Fleets to Crew
Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi has ordered tightened safety supervision for land, sea, and air transport in the Riau Islands (Kepri). Inspections are not only directed at the roadworthiness of vehicles, vessels, and aircraft, but also at crew competence and operator compliance with safety systems.
The instruction is considered crucial because Kepri is an archipelagic region with high sea and air transport mobility. Errors in fleet maintenance, unroadworthy facilities, or crew negligence can directly impact passenger safety.
“We all know that the Riau Islands is a strategic and very busy region, especially in terms of sea and air transport movement. The Ministry of Transport has a strategic role and great responsibility, namely safety,” Dudy said as confirmed in Jakarta on Tuesday (25/8/2026).
A day earlier, Dudy gathered all technical implementation units (UPT) of the Ministry of Transport working in the Kepri region in Batam on Monday (24/8/2026).
“We gathered them in order to re-instruct the importance of improving safety in land, sea, and air transport modes,” he said.
Dudy requested that supervision be carried out before risks turn into accidents. Therefore, officers are not enough to merely conduct administrative checks, but must ensure the actual condition of facilities, infrastructure, crew, and operator safety systems meet the provisions.
The policy is set out in Minister of Transport Instruction Number IM 3 of 2026. One of its points is a thorough roadworthiness inspection of transport facilities based on the authority of each unit.
Random checks are also ordered to be carried out before transport facilities depart and after they arrive. The measure is intended so that safety inspections do not only take place on certain schedules already known to operators.
Supervision also covers facility maintenance systems, operator compliance with safety provisions, and periodic evaluation of transport infrastructure based on operational standards and procedures.
Officers are asked to immediately coordinate and take early action if they find conditions that could endanger the safety or security of travel.
Batam Has High Sea Mobility
The high mobility in Batam provides an illustration of the supervision challenges in Kepri. In preparation for the 2025 Christmas and 2026 New Year transport period, the Ministry of Transport previously estimated sea passenger movement in Batam to reach around 825,226 people, up eight percent compared to 764,099 movements in the previous period. The data covers domestic and international passengers.
The movement is spread across six main passenger terminals, namely Batam Center, Sekupang, Nongsa Pura, Harbour Bay, Batu Ampar or Bintang 99, and Telaga Punggur. Batam’s position directly facing international shipping lanes as well as making it a hub for domestic inter-island travel means sea safety supervision carries a heavy burden.
The Ministry of Transport previously carried out ramp checks on 177 vessels operating in connection with Batam services. A total of 83 vessels were inspected for seaworthiness in Batam, 29 vessels were inspected outside Batam, while 65 others were foreign-flagged vessels. The inspections covered fleet condition and readiness of safety equipment.