International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:12 No:04 122 1218304-2626-IJET-IJENS © August 2012 IJENS I J E N S Role of Human Resource in Improving Indonesian Transport Safety Case Study : Traditional Sea Transport Malisan Johny, Jinca M.Y, Saleng Abrar Abstract-- Construction and shipbuilding of traditional ships are individual character, and should be preserved. Traditional shipping is generally managed by middle economic groups of people, but very strategic in distributing public commodities, especially to the islands that are difficult for other transport modes. Their activities are not well developed compared to the fact that Indonesia is an archipelagic country. The problems happened were high number of accidents, unable to compete with other ships, and low quality of human resources. Focus of this research is to analyze factors of human resources that influence safety aspect. This paper tries to point out the most significant factors that can be considered to affect safety management system in traditional shipping and the approaches that should be taken into account for realizing a real competency. Index Term-- transport safety, traditional ship, seafarer competence. I. INTRODUCTION As an archipelagic country, Indonesia undoubtedly depends on the existence of transportation for facilitating interisland connectivities (figure 1). Transportation plays a vital role as the engine of growth, trade, and development, as well as to reduce disparity among islands. Traditional shipping is a means of transportation as interisland connectivity in Indonesia. Traditional shipping is positioned as an important part of sea transportation system, and has a unique characteristic to transport commodities by using Indonesian flagged sailing vessels, motorized sailing vessels, and/or motorized vessels within a certain sizes. Since the earliest times of human settlement of Indonesia, her seas have been the natural lanes of migration, communication and commerce [1]. Indonesian law of shipping stated that unique characteristic is a certain size and type of ship (i.e. phinisi, lambo, nade, and lete); propelled by sails or a Malisan Johny is doctoral student of transportation engineering, dept. of civil engineering, Hasanuddin University. (corresponding author: Balitbang Perhubungan, Jln. Merdeka Timur No.5, Jakarta 10110 Indonesia, phone +6281316310212 email: johnmalisan@yahoo.com Jinca M.Y is Professor Dr. Ing. in transportation engineering, dept. of civil engineering, faculty of engineering, Hasanuddin University, Jln. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km.10, Makassar 90245, Indonesia. Saleng Abrar is Professor Dr. in law, faculty of law, Hasanuddin University, Jln. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km.10, Makassar 90245, Indonesia. machine less than 535 HP or 393.76 KW; manning qualifications are different from other ships; their scope of operation could reach remote areas which have not yet port facilities, shallow water depth as well as border countries, and loading and unloading activities carried out by human as labor intensive. Fig. 1. Location of Indonesia as an archipelagic country (website: http://www.google.co.id/imgres?q=peta+asean) Role of traditional wooden ship is important to the countless types of indigenous sailing vessels of the archipelagic country. Some sources explained that the traditional shipping contained the nation’s cultural values which no longer just found in their business management such as working relationship between the owner of crews, but also in type and form of ships operated. In 1970s, Indonesian wooden ships have been combining modern and traditional techniques such as engine installation [2]. Therefore, since around 1978, there has been a push to motorize the fleet of sailing Phinisi [3]. Along with the development of science and technology of shipping, role of these ships type continues to decline since the desire of cargo owners to utilize larger vessels and considered more economical. Traditional shipping then focused only on certain routes, seasons and type of commodities. According to the type of commodities, traditional shipping then transported animals and consumer goods, especially for isolated and remote islands [4] and difficult to reach by other type of vessels. Business of traditional shipping contain nation's cultural values which are not only found in business Philippines Indonesia