Marine Survey & BKI Class Survey Coordination in Sorong

We coordinate surveys; we do not perform them and we do not issue certificates. That
distinction matters. Our role is to prepare the vessel so the attending surveyor can do their job in one visit, to arrange the
docking and access, and to close out the defect list afterwards with documented evidence. Survey overruns in this region are
almost always preparation failures, not technical ones.

Survey types we support

• Class survey — annual, intermediate and special. Preparation, docking arrangement, opening-up, and
  close-out of conditions and memoranda.
• Docking survey. Underwater body inspection while the vessel is on the
  slipway or dock, including thickness measurement campaigns.
• Statutory and flag inspections. Safety equipment, firefighting, lifesaving appliances and the operational
  documentation that goes with them.
• Pre-purchase survey. For buyers assessing a vessel already operating in eastern Indonesia — including the
  uncomfortable questions about doublers, undocumented repairs and true maintenance history.
• Insurance and condition survey. Where an underwriter needs current evidence of hull and machinery
  condition.
• Damage survey. After grounding, contact or machinery failure, coordinated with the
  emergency response.

What preparation actually means

A surveyor arriving in Sorong has travelled a long way and has a finite window. If tanks are not gas-freed, if insulation is
not removed where readings are required, if the vessel’s documents are on a laptop in Bali, or if the vessel is still afloat
when it was supposed to be on the cradle, the visit produces a partial report and a second attendance — which the owner pays
for twice.

Our preparation checklist covers:

1. Scope confirmation with the surveyor in advance — which spaces, which readings, which openings-up, and
   what evidence will be accepted for previous repairs.
2. Access. Staging, tank entry preparation and gas-freeing, removal of ceilings, linings and insulation in
   survey areas, and safe access to the underwater body once ashore.
3. Measurement campaigns. Ultrasonic thickness readings taken on an agreed grid by the appropriate operator,
   plotted and submitted in the required format rather than as a loose list of numbers.
4. Document pack. Certificates, previous survey reports, repair records, coating records, machinery history
   and drawings — assembled before the surveyor lands, not searched for while they wait.
5. Machinery items. Coordinating with the
   engine desk so components are open when the surveyor is on board, not
   reassembled the day before.

Close-out is where the money is

Most owners focus on the survey day. The expensive part is what follows: conditions of class, recommendations and memoranda
with deadlines attached. We track each item, execute the repair, and assemble the evidence — photographs, readings, material
certificates, welder identification — in the form the surveyor will accept for clearance. Items closed out properly the first
time do not reappear as findings at the next intermediate survey, and they do not sit on a certificate when the vessel is being
sold or refinanced.

Wooden and traditional vessels

Wooden phinisi carry a different survey emphasis: fastening condition, frame and floor soundness, caulking, sheathing and
the state of the deck structure, plus the fire and bilge arrangements that matter on a passenger-carrying wooden hull.
Preparation usually means opening up specific areas before the surveyor arrives so that a judgement can be made on evidence
rather than on suspicion. That work is scoped with the
wooden hull desk.

Foreign-flagged vessels

Foreign-flagged yachts and expedition vessels do use commercial yard facilities in the Sorong area. The complications are
administrative — temporary import status, cruising permit validity, agent appointment and customs treatment of imported spares —
rather than technical. We coordinate with the owner’s agent on those points before a docking is booked, because a vessel that
arrives with the wrong paperwork can find itself unable to start work on schedule.

What we will not do

We are not a classification society, a surveyor’s office or a statutory authority, and we do not describe ourselves as
approved by one. We prepare, coordinate, execute and document. The survey opinion belongs to the surveyor, and the certificate
belongs to the issuing body. Any yard in this region that offers you a guaranteed pass is offering you something it cannot
deliver. Budget planning for survey cycles is set out on the
refit budgeting page.

Lead times: book the surveyor before the season does

Survey planning in West Papua runs on longer lead times than operators from western Indonesia expect, for a stackable set of reasons: the surveyor travels to Sorong rather than working from a local office, the docking slot has its own queue, and the two calendars must intersect during weather the slipway can work in. Start the conversation months ahead of the certificate date, not weeks — the sequence of desk review, scope and scheduling is described in how our coordination works, and a class renewal is the job it was designed for.

The cheapest survey preparation is the kind that accumulates by itself: vessels holding a documented service history walk into survey with evidence instead of assurances. If your records are thin, the honest fix is a maintenance programme whose visit reports become next survey’s file.

Talk to the repair desk

Send the vessel particulars — length overall, beam, draft, hull material, displacement, current location and the window you have available — and the Raja Ampat Shipyard Desk will come back with a written scope and a quotation in USD for survey preparation and coordination. Quotations name the yard, the slipway or dock, the work sequence and the assumptions behind every line.

WhatsApp: +628113823875
Email: sales@komodoluxury.com

Contracts for construction, repair, refit and vessel-sale work are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara. All quotations are stated in USD.

Further reading from the field notes

• Hull Thickness Gauging: When Steel Boats Need Ultrasonic Checks
• Insurance Damage Surveys After a Marine Incident: Owner’s Guide
• Can a Foreign Yacht Use Commercial Shipyards in West Papua?
• Planning Intermediate and Special Surveys in Eastern Indonesia

Frequently asked questions

Do you carry out the survey yourselves?

No. We coordinate and prepare. The survey is carried out by the attending class or independent surveyor, and certificates are issued by the appropriate body. Our deliverable is a vessel that is ready, and a defect close-out package the surveyor can accept.

How far in advance should a class survey docking be booked?

Around three months. The binding constraint is usually the surveyor’s travel diary rather than slipway capacity, and coordinating both into the same week is what prevents a second attendance.

What is the most common reason a survey overruns in Sorong?

Access. Tanks not gas-freed, insulation or linings still in place where readings are required, or documents not assembled. Every one of those turns a one-visit survey into two.

Can you support a pre-purchase survey for a vessel already operating in Raja Ampat?

Yes, including arranging a haul-out for underwater inspection, thickness readings, and an honest assessment of previous repairs — doublers, undocumented plating and coating history in particular.