VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Government, through the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs, expressed readiness to supervise the transition to zero-carbon fuel in marine activities and the transformation of Indonesian ports to green ports.

"Our national oil company has commenced the production of low sulfur marine fuel oil (LS MFO) for our naval armada fuel. We have also made LS MFO available for international shipping activities by opening a bulk freight port at the Krakatau International Port complex in August 2021," the coordinating ministry's Maritime and Energy Sovereignty Coordination Department Deputy Head, Basilio Dias Araujo, said.

He was quoted as saying during the IMO-UNCTAD Side Event at Cop26: Seizing Opportunities for Developing Countries in Providing Zero-Carbon Fuels to Global Shipping held on Wednesday (Nov 10).

State-owned oil company Pertamina has readied four LS MFO terminals at the Strait of Malacca to serve international ships, Araujo noted.

"We hope to be able to collaborate with international partners to establish more oil refineries to produce more LS MFO for global shipping activities in the strait. Indonesia has also introduced the B20 and B30 oil variants for domestic land and air transportation," the department deputy head stated.

Indonesia has renewed the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in July 2021 to fulfil the country's commitment to reducing carbon emissions, he affirmed.

Regarding the decarbonisation programme in the shipping industry, Indonesia's NDC has recorded that 19 percent of carbon dioxide emissions originated from the national shipping industry, Araujo pointed out.

A total of 39,510 cargo ships and 171,754 fishing boats are recorded in the national database, with small boat types being the most documented in the database, he stated.

Indonesia's 200 thousand ships are lesser in number as compared to the total 2.1 billion worldwide recorded by the UNTACD Handbook of Statistics in 2020, the deputy department head added.

"A total of around 200 thousand ships have sailed through Indonesia's three important straits: around 130 thousand ships annually have crossed Malacca Strait, 56 thousand ships crossed Sunda Strait, and 33 thousand ships crossed Lombok Strait. The shipping activities have resulted in millions of tons of carbon dioxide discharged in Indonesia," Araujo stated.

Regardless of the millions of tons of carbon dioxide emitted either by Indonesian or foreign ships crossing the Indonesian waters, Araujo asserted Indonesia's determination to gradually lowering the national carbon emission levels.

The Indonesian government has promoted the transition of oil fuel to gas fuel for small boats, Araujo stated. The policy to install solar panels on roofs of Indonesian ports has also been introduced, he added.

Araujo is confident that Indonesia can fulfil its commitment to tackling the climate crisis by implementing the policies. Despite this, Araujo reiterated the importance of collaborative and collective actions by domestic maritime and energy industries as well as international organizations, such as the IMO, UNCTAD, and the World Bank.

"I urge the IMO to assist our efforts to introduce low-carbon technology. The IMO could also facilitate public-private partnerships, information exchange and technology transfer, development of maritime human resources, technical collaboration, and other programs to enhance energy efficiency in shipping vessels and the shipping industry in general," the department deputy head stated.

Araujo also expressed optimism that the IMO would provide financial and technology innovation support, including for capacity improvement.

"However, it is our duty to utilize and maximize the potential that we have received from supporting parties," he remarked.  (Antaranews)