Indonesia, Spain exploring collaboration to build surveillance ships

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: Indonesia is exploring collaboration with the government of Spain for building 10 surveillance ships through foreign loan or foreign grant schemes, according to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.

“(We are) still in the process of negotiation. Hopefully, the governments of Indonesia and Spain will collaborate to build 10 units (of surveillance ships),” the ministry’s director general of marine and fish resources monitoring, Rear Admiral Adin Nurawaluddin, told ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday.

According to Nurawaluddin, the government is planning to build ten ships to comply with the domestic component level (TKDN) requirement.

“To accord with the TKDN rule, of the 10 units, 4 will be built in Spain, while the rest (will be made) in Indonesia,” he expounded.

Earlier, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono revealed that his ministry was set to receive 2 surveillance ships from the Japanese government, namely Hakurei Maru and Shirahagi Maru.

Hakurei Maru arrived in Indonesia on June 15, 2023, and was renamed Orca 05, while Shirahagi Maru, rechristened Orca 06, arrived later in September this year.

The two ships, both measuring 63.37 meters in length, were used for patrol by the Fisheries Agency of Japan and can operate at sea for up to 25 days.

In a statement released earlier on July 21, Nurawaluddin informed that the Orca 06 would be used by the ministry to improve the monitoring of national marine resources in North Natuna Sea, Indonesian waters in the South China Sea.

He also noted that in 2022 alone, the ministry detected as many as 23 thousand boats involved in illegal fishing activities in Indonesian waters.

It is expected that the surveillance ship will have the capability to prevent such occurrences in North Natuna waters, he said.