PT. Pelni to acquire new ship

JAKARTA (JP): German shipmaker Meyer Shipyard will deliver the passenger vessel Bukit Siguntang to Indonesia in the German port city of Papenburg on Oct. 12, the Indonesian embassy in Bonn announced yesterday.

The embassy said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post yesterday that Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau of Germany has provided a loan for the procurement of the 14,800-ton vessel, while the Indonesian state-owned ferry operator PT Pelni is to pay the down payment.

Meyer Shipyard is obliged to use some Indonesian local parts in the construction of Bukit Siguntang, which has a capacity of 2,003 passengers, a condition which was also applied in the procurement of other passenger vessels.

Since 1959, Indonesia has bought 25 ships of various types from Meyer Shipyard, 17 of which are passenger vessels.

The previous 16 vessels, which consisted of vessels with capacities of approximately 1,000 to 2,000 passengers, are fully operated by PT Pelni to serve 72 harbors in 24 provinces of the country.

By the year 2000, Indonesia's shipmaker PT PAL, in cooperation with Meyer Shipyard, is expected to produce 500-passenger vessels, which are expected to serve the shipping lines in the internal waters of Kalimantan, the southern coast of Irian Jaya and some islands in the South China Sea, Maluku, Sangihe and Talaud in the eastern part of Indonesia.

The embassy in Bonn expected that Chancellor Helmut Kohl's visit to Indonesia later this month will provide momentum for further enhancement of cooperation in other realms besides shipbuilding. (13)