Safety & compliance
Every Document We Check, and What It Is Called
Indonesian vessel paperwork has its own vocabulary — Grosse Akta, Surat Ukur, Buku Pelaut. A buyer who does not know the names cannot tell a complete file from an incomplete one. This is the list.
- Condition
- Survey is a condition of sale
- BKI
- Indonesian classification society
- KSOP
- Port authority that certifies seaworthiness
- Per crew
- Certification checked, not assumed
Quick answer
Independent marine survey, sea trial and document audit are conditions of sale in the standard contract. The audit checks title, tonnage, safety certification, crew papers and safety equipment — each against a named document rather than an assurance.
- Title is the Grosse Akta; tonnage is the Surat Ukur. Both are issued, both are checkable.
- Certificate currency lapses quietly, so the audit checks dates rather than existence.
- Our own registrations are given as numbers on request rather than asserted here.
The vocabulary
What Each Document Is
These are the real instruments. Learning six words is the cheapest due diligence a buyer can do.
- Grosse Akta
- Certificate of ownership
- Surat Ukur
- Tonnage certificate
- STKKI
- Vessel nationality certificate
- KSOP
- Port authority office
- Buku Pelaut
- Seafarer’s book
- BKI
- Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia
- STCW
- Standards of training and watchkeeping
- SOLAS
- Safety of Life at Sea
- SPB
- Surat Persetujuan Berlayar
Title to the vessel. The first document to ask for and the one an encumbrance would show up against.
Ministry of Transportation
Measured tonnage, which decides which certification regime and which crew competency band applies.
Ministry of Transportation
Registers the hull under the Indonesian flag — what the PT PMA structure exists to make possible.
Ministry of Transportation
Kantor Kesyahbandaran dan Otoritas Pelabuhan. Where seaworthiness certification and port clearance come from.
Per port
The individual crew record. Checked per crew member, alongside competency and medical certification.
Per crew member
The Indonesian classification society. Class status is one of the four factors that set a vessel’s price.
Per vessel
International crew certification. Which parts apply depends on flag, tonnage and trading area.
Per crew member
The applicable requirements, where the vessel type and voyage regime call for them.
Per vessel and route
Sailing approval, obtained per departure. An operating discipline rather than a one-time registration.
Every voyage
The audit
What Gets Checked Before Exchange
Grouped by what a finding would mean. A lapsed certificate is a renewal; a missing title is the end of the conversation.
- Required
Title and encumbrance
Grosse Akta present, ownership chain intact, and no outstanding charge against the vessel. This is the check that can end a transaction rather than reprice it.
Deal-breaking
- Required
Tonnage and nationality
Surat Ukur and the nationality certificate current and consistent with each other and with the hull as measured.
Deal-breaking
- Required
Seaworthiness certification
Safety certification current with the port authority. Dates checked, not just the presence of a document.
Renewable
- Conditional
Class status
BKI classification where the vessel carries it. Class is what lets a lender or insurer price the asset at all, so its absence is a financing problem before it is a safety one.
Affects financing
- Required
Crew documentation
Buku Pelaut, competency certification appropriate to the tonnage band, medical fitness, and work authorisation for any non-Indonesian crew.
Renewable
- Required
Safety equipment, present and serviced
Life rafts and their service dates, EPIRB and SART registration, VHF and SSB radio, and satellite communications. Verified functional rather than counted.
Renewable
- Conditional
SOLAS items
Where the vessel type and intended voyage regime bring them into scope. A privately held hull and a commercial charter vessel are not held to the same list.
Depends on use
- Conditional
Operator licence
Held at company level rather than on the vessel. Required to carry guests commercially by sea.
Commercial charter
Safety equipment is verified as present AND functional. A life raft with an expired service tag is not a life raft.
What we say about our own registrations
The previous version of this page asserted that the company holds a tourism business licence from the Ministry of Tourism, is registered with the Directorate General of Taxes, complies with investment board regulations, and is an active member of a named industry association. Those may all be true, but none was evidenced, and a compliance page that asks to be believed rather than checked is doing the opposite of its job. Ask the desk for registration and licence numbers. A number can be verified; a sentence cannot.
After purchase
Compliance Does Not Stop at Exchange
Most of the list above is renewable, and a vessel that was compliant on the day you bought it will not stay that way on its own. Certificates expire, crew papers lapse, service tags run out, and sailing approval is filed per departure rather than once a season.
A vessel placed into managed charter inherits that discipline from an operator already running it across a fleet. A vessel held privately needs someone whose job it is — which is a real cost and one worth deciding about before rather than after.
- Sailing approval Every departure
- Filed with the harbourmaster at the port of departure, with route and manifest
- Safety certification Renewal cycle
- Through the port authority. Expiry is the most commonly missed date on a private hull
- Class survey Per BKI cycle
- Where the vessel carries class. Lapsing it affects insurance and resale, not just paperwork
- Crew certification Per certificate
- Individual expiry dates, tracked per crew member rather than per vessel
- Safety equipment service Per item
- Life raft servicing and beacon battery dates each run on their own clock
- Corporate filings Ongoing
- If the vessel is held through a PT PMA, the company has its own reporting obligations
Also in this silo
How We Work
Document list
Ask for the File Before the Viewing
Every listing arrives with survey records, refit invoices, charter revenue where relevant and crew notes. Ask for the document list on a specific hull and you will know what you are flying out to see.
Or call +62 811-3941-4563
- Independent survey, sea trial and document audit as conditions of sale
- Surveyor appointed by you, reporting to you
- Our registration numbers on request