National

Department of Transportation Gives Navy Five High-Speed Ferries
Friday, 16 September, 2005 | 20:57 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:: The Indonesian Department of Transportation has given the Defense Department five high-speed ferries, costing Rp491 billion, through the Indonesian Navy.

The handing over was carried out by Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa and Indonesian Navy chief of staff Admiral Slamet Subianto on Thursday (15/09).

In his speech, Hatta said that the donation of the high-speed ferries was in the form of cooperation in order to increase security and law enforcement at sea.

“These ferries will be more effective and efficient if they are given to the Defense Department for military assignments in handling state affairs,” stated Hatta.

With the alternatives of high-speed transport facilities such as planes, these ships are less effective in operations.

According to the Transportation Department’s Shore Transportation Director General Iskandar Abu Bakar, ships used for intra-region transportation are not balanced in terms of income and the expense

This is because tariffs are usually cheaper than market tariffs and ferries usually consume a lot of fuel.

“If these ferries are handed over to the Navy, they will be much more useful than being used as intra-region facilities as the market in this sector has been taken by the airplanes,” said Abu Bakar. (Khairunnisa-Tempo News Room)