IO, Surabaya – Another proud achievement was earned by a team of four students from the Tenth of November Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember – ‘ITS’) Surabaya, specifically from the Department of Civil Infrastructural Engineering and Marine Transportation. Presenting a concept for resolving difference of rice prices in Indonesia, and specifically in Papua, the team won first place in the Civil Engineering Expo (ICEE) held by the Bandung Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Bandung – ITB) for three days, until Sunday (28/1).
Inspired by the steep difference of the price of rice in the Province of Papua, up to 32% and more, along with a continued rising demand for rice every year, the team, known as ‘945-WT’, created an efficient new system for distributing rice to Papua.
Mujaddid Ma’ruf, the Head of Team 945-WT, stated that their ‘I-LOG’ protocol is able to integrate logistical and marine transportation systems, with the objective of developing Eastern Indonesia. For its logistical system, the team, guided by Achmad Mustakim, S.T., M.T. and Hafiizh Imaddudin, S.T., M.T. created the most effective sea lanes, based on existing Pelni marine toll routes.
The first route runs from Tanjung Perak Port to Sorong, while another extends from Tanjung Perak to Jayapura, and a final one from Tanjung Perak to Merauke. ‘These three ports were selected because there exists the Trans Papua route that connects all three of these by land,’ said the Civil Infrastructural Engineering Diploma 3 student.
The team earned their award for a ‘Call for Paper’ (CFP) themed ‘Innovation in Developing Marine Systems and Infrastructures to Support the Logistics System in Indonesia’ as it shows innovations implemented in marine transportation, i.e., constructing optimal usage ships with transportable live weight of 500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent) and weight at 10,000 DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage). ‘We also modify the berths along piers and expand the container depots, so that incoming vessels can moor at them,’ explained Mujaddid further.
When asked why he selected rice as the commodity transported, Mujaddid explained that despite the large amounts of sago available in Papua, most residents are migrants whose main dish is rice. This results in a high demand, while subsidized rice is only able to satisfy 24% of needs. ‘In this way, we intend to reduce differences in the price of rice from 32% to 6%,’ he said.
In this competition, the ITS team defeated the ITB host teams that must satisfy themselves in II, III, and IV places. Of the 5 finalists, ITS was the only team outside ITB, yet still managed to come out ahead of the other 4. (ITS)