Shipping permits issued free of charge: Official

JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Sea Transportation Soentoro said yesterday that there is no official charge for the issuance of a shipping permit but admitted that, in practice, shipowners can be subject to illegal fees.

"You know how things are down below, where control is inadequate," he told a press conference here yesterday.

Soentoro was responding to recent calls for the government to reduce the red tape involved in obtaining certificates of sea worthiness in Indonesia.

Members of the House of Representatives said earlier this month that, as a result of complicated bureaucracy procedures, as well as a ban on the importation of small and medium-sized second-hand fishing boats, Indonesia's fishing sector has been unable to optimally exploit the country's marine resources.

The Directorate General of Sea Transportation, whose authority over fishing vessels is limited to issuing sea worthiness certificates and operational permits for non-liner ships, is currently cooperating with the Ministry of Agriculture's Directorate General of Fisheries to cut back the red tape.

Importation

However, the ban on the importation of used fishing vessels is not to be lifted.

Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah contended earlier this month that Indonesia is capable of building small fishing vessels of between 30 and 60 dead weight tons (DWT) and that, therefore, imports of such boats are unnecessary.

Soentoro said yesterday that operating permits for non- passenger foreign and domestic ships are issued only once and are valid as long as the company which owns the ship remains in operation.

Sea worthiness permits can only be issued by port officials once a ship has obtained certificates relating to safety, pollution control, seamanship, legality and classification. All of these permits are supposed to be free of charge.

The government presently requires 15 certificates for vessels in general and nine for fishing boats.

"I must admit the number of the certificates required to obtain sea worthiness certificate is quite high, but they are not permits in the real sense and no money is needed to obtain them. They should come together with a ship as a 'single package'," Soentoro said.

The certificates, he said, should be issued and renewed on a regular basis by marine inspectors.

He said, however, there was currently a lack of qualified marine inspectors to certify ships at the various ports.

As a result, Soentoro said, decentralization of certification and controlling processes is difficult.

"It's difficult to send more (marine inspectors) to the country's remote areas because the local governments are unable to provide them with the necessary living facilities," he said.

Due to this lack of monitoring and control at the regional level, shipowners whose ships do not meet sea-worthiness standards and are thereby ineligible to obtain certificates often get away with bribing local port authorities to continue operations.

Indonesia currently has some 190 marine inspectors, as compared with about 800 seaports.

According to Soentoro, small and third-class port administrators presently have the authority to issue permits for ships with a capacity of 500 cubic meters or less, while only four major ports -- Belawan, North Sumatra; Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi; Tanjung Perak, East Java; and Tanjung Priok, Jakarta -- are authorized to issue permits for ships with a capacity of over 500 cu.m. (pwn)