The sinking of KM Sinar Bangun reveals that ship safety requirements have never been implemented in the waters of Lake Toba. The physical condition of many passenger ships is not up to the standards stipulated in the seaworthiness certificate.
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AFP PHOTO/LAZUARDY FAHMI
The families of victims still missing in the KM Sinar Bangun accident throw flowers into the waters of North Sumatra’s Lake Toba during a memorial service on July 3, 2018. The previous day, an officer of the Search snd Rescue (SAR) operation announced that efforts to retrieve the bodies of victims who perished when the passenger ferry sank to the bottom of Lake Toba – of one of the world\'s deepest lakes – was being called off.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The sinking of passenger ship KM Sinar Bangun on Lake Toba, North Sumatra, on June 18 reveals that ship safety requirements have never been implemented in the waters of Lake Toba. The physical condition of many passenger ships, which are mostly owned by the local residents, is not up to the standards stipulated in the seaworthiness certificate.
Based on data from the North Sumatra transportation office, at least 400 vessels are involved in the transportation of passengers and goods on Lake Toba. Their physical condition resembles that of KM Sinar Bangun.
KM ROD, which operates at Tomok Port, for example, has a capacity of 32 gross tons (GT). According to its seaworthiness certificate, it only has a deck with a capacity of 50 passengers. However, like KM Sinar Bangun, in practice, KM ROD has two decks that can accommodate more than 150 passengers.
FS, 30, the skipper of KM ROD, holds a seaworthiness certificate issued by the North Sumatra transportation office. The certificate was signed by the head of the shipping section at the office, Rochani Litiloly. The certificate was issued when KM ROD already had two decks, FS said.
Seaworthiness certificates must be periodically extended as they are valid only for a year. The owners of the ships must apply for an extension at the provincial transportation office.
The certificate renewal application for KM ROD was submitted only to the transportation office in Samosir district. Two days later, the officers from the transportation office came and checked on the physical condition of the ship, and then the seaworthiness certificate was issued with a new expiry period, FS said. He, however, he did not mention the names of the officers.
Jatiur Sinaga, 80, the owner of KM Sinta Dame, said that he had to pay an extension fee of Rp 200,000 for the renewal of the seaworthiness certificate. "The fee includes the transportation costs to Medan (where the transportation office is located). I don’t know the actual fee for the certificate renewal,” he said.
KM Sinta Dame is as big as KM Sinar Bangun. Jatiur said that KM Sinta Dame was only allowed to carry 45 passengers. "However, during the holidays, we cannot refuse the passengers’ requests. So the ship was often overloaded," he said.
Nautical skills
On Lake Toba, many captains of passenger ships don’t have shipping certificates that indicate that they have the adequate nautical skills to operate ships. MA, 26, the skipper of KM OG, said that he had operated the KM OG for 1.5 years without a shipping certificate. He gained the skills to drive the ship from his experience as a crew assistant for 10 years.
In 2017, MA applied for the shipping document at the transportation office in Samosir district. At that time, he was not tested, but only asked to provide a copy of his ID card and pay “cigarette money” or a tip. “I gave the ‘cigarette money’ when the certificate was ready," MA added.
The transportation officer only gave a handwritten document explaining that MA was the captain. The document was signed by the head of the local transportation office, R. Manalu.
ANTARA FOTO/SIGID KURNIAWAN
A Search snd Rescue (SAR) team sails a rubber raft back to Tigaras Port on Tuesday (26/6/2018). The SAR operation was launched to search for survivors after the KM Sinar Bangun passenger ferry sank on Lake Toba in Simalungun, North Sumatra.
Most passenger vessels operating on Lake Toba don’t have a proper sailing permit (SIB). SIBs are issued by the local port authority (Syahbandar) or local officers appointed by the provincial transportation office.
MA and FS said they had never owned sailing licenses. They only have a sea worthiness certificate and a ship crew certificate. The departure of the vessels is arranged by members of the shipping organization at the local port, who mostly comprise ship owners and administrators.
In accordance with Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 25/2015, the sailing license for a vessel with a capacity of 7 gross tons (GT) is issued by the provincial transportation office, while the license for a ship with a capacity of less than 7 GT is issued by the district transportation office. In practice, there are no officers from the provincial transportation office assigned at the port on the island of Samosir, even though most passenger ships operating on Lake Toba have a capacity of more than 7 GT.
Reducing deck sizes
The director of shipping and marine affairs at the Transportation Ministry’s Sea Transportation Directorate General, Dwi Budi Sutrisno, said the physical condition of passenger ships on Lake Toba were not up to standards and should be changed, such as by reducing the size of the decks and balconies.
In order to improve shipping safety on Lake Toba, the transportation minister appointed at least 100 port authority personnel at the main port of the lake. Safety is the top priority and so it must be improved.
"The sinking of KM Sinar Bangun should become a serious lesson for us," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said. He stressed that ships on Lake Toba would no longer depart from the port without a rigorous inspection and without permission from the port authority. The vessel must also be manned by a certified skipper.
Shipping supervision on Lake Toba has not been optimized. Ships depart without any supervision or inspection from the authorities.
