Permits & flag
Which Flag You Fly Decides Your Whole Paperwork Stack
A foreign-flag yacht needs pre-arrival clearance, four-agency entry and a permit for every leg — and still cannot charter in country. An Indonesian-flag vessel skips the first of those entirely and can. That one choice is the page.
- 2 regimes
- Foreign flag or Indonesian flag
- Per leg
- Sailing approval, every departure
- PT PMA
- What permits in-country charter
- 4 agencies
- Customs · immigration · quarantine · port
Quick answer
A foreign-flag yacht cannot operate in-country charter in Indonesia. To charter, the vessel flies the Indonesian flag, which means it is owned by an Indonesian entity — and that is the PT PMA the ownership page covers.
- Foreign flag: pre-arrival clearance, port-of-entry clearance, then a permit per leg.
- Indonesian flag: no pre-arrival clearance — standard Indonesian shipping rules instead.
- Marine-park permits apply to the guests aboard either way.
Fees change — confirm before every season
This page deliberately carries no permit or park-fee amounts. Indonesian marine-park tariffs are revised, sometimes sharply, and the previous version of this page quoted two different figures for the same Komodo fee in two different sections. A buyer who plans a season against a stale number is worse off than one who knows to ask. The desk confirms current fees before each season.
The decision
Foreign Flag Against Indonesian Flag
Everything else on this page follows from this table.
| Specification | Indonesian flag | Foreign flag |
|---|---|---|
| In-country charter | Permitted | Not permitted directly |
| Pre-arrival clearance (CAIT) | Not required | Required before arrival |
| Port-of-entry clearance (CIQP) | Standard shipping rules | Four agencies at the port of entry |
| Sailing approval per leg | Required | Required |
| Owning entity | Indonesian — a PT PMA | Foreign, or bareboat |
| Operator licence (SIUPAL) | Required to carry guests commercially | Charter through an Indonesian operator |
| Marine-park permits | Apply to guests aboard | Apply to guests aboard |
A foreign-flag yacht that wants charter income has to route it through an Indonesian charter operator rather than earning it directly. That is the practical reason most buyers who intend to charter end up on the Indonesian-flag side.
The stack
Every Clearance, and When It Bites
Read the state chip first. Roughly half of this list does not apply to an Indonesian-flag vessel, and roughly half of the rest is per-voyage rather than one-time.
- Conditional
CAIT — Clearance Approval for Indonesian Territory
The master pre-arrival authorisation for a foreign-flag yacht entering Indonesian waters. Applied for well before the intended arrival date. Does not apply to an Indonesian-flag vessel, which operates under standard Indonesian shipping regulation instead.
Foreign flag only · Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs
- Conditional
CIQP — customs, immigration, quarantine, port
Four separate agencies clearing the vessel at the port of entry, each with its own form. Common entry ports include Bali, Banyuwangi, Kupang, Saumlaki and Sorong.
Foreign flag · at the port of entry
- Required
Sailing approval — per departure
Surat Persetujuan Berlayar, issued by the harbourmaster at the port of departure for every port-to-port leg. It records the destination, route, expected arrival and the manifest aboard. Filed before each departure, under either flag.
Harbourmaster (Syahbandar), every leg
- Required
Vessel nationality certificate
Surat Tanda Kebangsaan Kapal Indonesia — registers the hull under Indonesian flag. This is the document the PT PMA structure exists to make possible.
Indonesian flag · Ministry of Transportation
- Required
Tonnage certificate
Pas Besar for vessels in the 7–500 GT band, Pas Kecil below 7 GT. Every phinisi on our book sits in the Pas Besar band.
Indonesian flag · Ministry of Transportation
- Required
Vessel safety certificate
Sertifikat Keselamatan Kapal. Its currency is one of the things an independent survey checks rather than assumes.
Indonesian flag · Ministry of Transportation
- Conditional
Sea transport operator licence (SIUPAL)
Held at company level, not vessel level. Required to carry guests commercially by sea. Not needed for a hull held privately and never chartered in country.
Commercial charter · Ministry of Transportation
- Required
Marine-park permits
Charged per guest, and administered differently in each region — Komodo through the national park authority, Raja Ampat through the regency government. Dive permits are usually separate from entry permits. These apply under either flag.
Per region, per guest
- Required
Crew documentation
Certification for the crew aboard, and immigration status for any non-Indonesian among them.
Immigration · Ministry of Transportation
Amounts and processing times were removed. The previous version quoted CAIT at "USD 350–600 government plus USD 800–1,200 agent" and a full-service season charge of "USD 2,500–4,500" — none of it sourced, and the park fees it quoted contradicted each other. Ask the desk for the current schedule.
Glossary
The Permit Alphabet
What each abbreviation is, and whether it follows the vessel, the company or the voyage.
- CAIT
- Clearance Approval for Indonesian Territory
- CIQP
- Customs, Immigration, Quarantine, Port
- SPB
- Surat Persetujuan Berlayar
- STKKI
- Surat Tanda Kebangsaan Kapal Indonesia
- Pas Besar
- Tonnage certificate, 7–500 GT
- SKK
- Sertifikat Keselamatan Kapal
- SIUPAL
- Surat Izin Usaha Perusahaan Angkutan Laut
- PT PMA
- Perseroan Terbatas Penanaman Modal Asing
- Syahbandar
- Harbourmaster
Pre-arrival authorisation for a foreign-flag yacht.
Follows the voyage
Four-agency clearance at the port of entry.
Follows the voyage
Sailing approval, obtained per departure from the harbourmaster.
Follows the voyage
Vessel nationality certificate — the Indonesian flag itself.
Follows the vessel
The band every phinisi on our book falls into.
Follows the vessel
Vessel safety certificate. Currency is checked at survey.
Follows the vessel
Sea transport operator licence, held by the company.
Follows the company
The Indonesian entity that holds the flag for a foreign buyer.
Follows the company
Issues sailing approval at the port of departure.
Every departure
Where you will cruise
Four Regions, Four Administrations
Permits are regional, and the regions are administered by different bodies — Komodo through the national park authority, Raja Ampat through the regency government. There is no single national marine-park pass to buy.
Distance is the other half of the planning problem. Raja Ampat is roughly 1,400 nautical miles from Bali, where most charter operators are based, so repositioning costs real fuel, time and crew. Most operators work Raja Ampat in one half of the year and Komodo in the other rather than trying to hold both.
- Komodo National Park Closest
- 1,733 km² across Komodo, Rinca, Padar and surrounds. UNESCO World Heritage since 1991. Entry through the park gateway stations; a ranger guide is mandatory ashore on Komodo and Rinca.
- Wakatobi National Park ≈700 nm
- 1.4 million hectares off southeast Sulawesi, 750+ coral species. Close enough that seasonal repositioning is manageable.
- Raja Ampat Marine Park ≈1,400 nm
- 4 million hectares across roughly 1,500 islands in West Papua. Administered by the regency government rather than national parks, so the permit is bought differently. Dive-site fees are usually separate.
- Banda Sea & Spice Islands Far, and scattered
- No unified park system — permits are arranged per protected area through local offices. Distances between anchorages are long enough to have to be planned into an itinerary.
Next in this silo
Owning and Operating
Season planning
Ask for This Season’s Fee Schedule
Park tariffs and processing times move. Rather than publish numbers that go stale, the desk confirms the current schedule against the regions you intend to cruise and the flag you intend to fly.
Or call +62 811-3941-4563
- Current fees confirmed per region, per season
- Both flag regimes mapped before you commit
- Leg-by-leg sailing approval handled with the harbourmaster