IO, Surabaya – Once again, Indonesian youngsters have made Indonesia famous on an international level. Basudewa, a team comprised of students from the Department of Naval Engineering and Shipping System Engineering of Institut Teknologi 10 November (ITS) Surabaya, has been successful in winning Second Place at the Worldwide Ferry Safety Design Competition held by the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association in the USA.
The award of the prestigious accomplishment was officially delivered in New York, US, on Thursday (22/3) local time or Friday (23/3) Western Indonesian time. The accomplishment achieved by team ITS in this ferry design competition affirms Indonesia’s status as the largest maritime nation in the world.
Team members Jangka Ruliyanto, Raja Andhika RR, Rahmat Diko Edfi, Novario Adiguna P, Alvinur Yudha A, and Riyan Bagus P have successfully made Indonesia famous in the US. Team Basudewa itself was under the guidance of Ir Agoes Santoso Mphil from the Department of Naval Engineering and Hasanuddin ST MN of the Department of Shipping System Engineering.
For the Worldwide Ferry Safety Design Competition, the score was determined by several factors, namely safety, environment-friendly, easily constructed, and low construction cost. The design is made based on a case study in the strait between Singapore, Malaysia and Batam. The judgment on the ferry designed by the participants was held long distance and on-line.
Structure-wise, the ferry designed by Team Basudewa has several advantages in terms of stability, marine construction, flexibility to fit the character of the ports and sea tides in Singapore Strait as a case study. In terms of safety, the ferry is designed according to the Safety of Life at Seas (Solas) 3 and 4, in which the ship has a fire extinguisher network and evacuation routes as safety standards.
The ferry uses twin-screw water jet technology as power, with hybrid fuel as the energy source. As Jangka explained, the usage of hybrid fuel makes the ferry more efficient in terms of operational costs, compared with most ferries plying the Singapore strait. “The savings may reach as high as 17.21 percent,” Jangka explained from the US, when contacted on-line.
The competition was joined by 19 countries, including teams from the US, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and other developed countries. This gave a sense of pride to team ITS, because it showed it can surpass developed countries famed for their newer technology. “We sit close together with Singapore who won first place, India in third place and the Netherlands in fourth. Praise to God, Asian countries won the Big Three,” Jangka said proudly.
According to Agoes Santoso, one of the academic advisors who guided team Basudewa, the 19 countries who joined the competition were all ready in terms of quality and mental attitude. “We didn’t expect to reach second place. What we kept reminding ourselves was to keep the spirit high to design a ship that is comfortable, reliable, environmentally-friendly and efficient,” as explained by the lecturer at the Naval Engineering department.
What’s more, the Head of Shipping System Engineering in ITS, Dr Eng M Badrus Zaman, who was awarded his doctorate degree from Kobe University, Japan, said that the level of competition in the maritime technology sector must be frequently joined. This is to show the world that Indonesia, namely ITS, is able to compete on a global level. “The momentum shows that Indonesia is ready to become an axis of world maritime design,” he said confidently. (ITS)