Shipyard Costs & Refit Budgeting in West Papua
We do not publish a price list, because a price list for shipyard work is a marketing device
rather than a number you can budget against. What we do publish is the structure — every component that appears in a
West Papua yard account, which ones move, and how to build a budget that survives contact with the vessel. All figures we quote
are in USD.
The seven components of a yard account
- Lift and launch. A fixed event charge for hauling and relaunching, driven by vessel length and
displacement. It does not vary with how long you stay. - Lay days. A daily charge for occupying the cradle or dock. This is the line that punishes poor planning:
every day lost waiting for a part, a decision or a surveyor is a lay day paid in full. - Labour. Charged by trade and by day or hour — shipwright, welder, blaster and painter, fitter, electrician.
Rates in West Papua are generally below Java and Bali; productivity per day is also lower, largely because of weather
interruption and material availability. Compare total cost of a completed scope, not headline day rates. - Materials. Steel, timber, coatings, fastenings, consumables. Coatings in particular are a significant
line, and the difference between a two-coat and a three-coat specification is real money that shows up eighteen months
later. - Logistics. The West Papua premium. Freight from Jakarta, Surabaya or Singapore, plus mobilisation of
specialist personnel or equipment. On a technical refit this is routinely underestimated. - Third parties. Surveyor attendance and travel, class fees, specialist NDT, agency and permit costs on
foreign-flagged vessels. - Contingency. Not padding — a named line for the work that only becomes visible when the vessel is opened
up.
What actually moves the number
- Unknowns. A vessel whose tanks and structure have not been opened for five years carries far more budget
risk than one with a current thickness survey. Spending on assessment before committing to a scope reduces total cost more
reliably than negotiating rates. - Surface preparation. The largest single swing item on most dockings. Sweep sanding versus full blast to
bare substrate can double the coating package and add a week of lay days. - Sequence. Work done in the wrong order is paid for twice. Painting before steel work in the same area is
the classic example, and it is common. - Parts lead time. Lay days accumulate while a component travels. Ordering against a confirmed scope before
arrival is the highest-return decision in the whole programme. - Weather. Blasting and painting stop for rain. A wet-season docking is a longer docking, whatever the
schedule says. - Downtime. For a working liveaboard, lost charter revenue frequently exceeds the entire yard account. That
figure belongs in the budget, and it is the strongest argument for a well-planned short docking over a leisurely one.
Building an annual and five-year budget
The pattern that works for Raja Ampat operators is a rolling five-year plan aligned to the class or survey cycle:
- Every year: docking, hull wash, anodes, antifouling touch or renewal, running-gear inspection, machinery
service to hours, dive-system service and gas testing, safety-equipment service dates. - Every two to three years: full coating renewal, shaft withdrawal and bearing renewal, tank inspection,
significant machinery overhaul. - Every five years, at special survey: extensive opening-up, thickness measurement campaign, structural
renewal, and the deferred items that have accumulated. This is the expensive year and it should be funded across the four
before it, not discovered in the month before.
Sinking a fixed monthly amount against the five-year peak is the single most useful financial habit an operator in this
region can adopt. The alternative — funding a special survey out of one season’s revenue — is what forces owners into the
shortcuts that make the following survey more expensive again.
Timing, and why the calendar is a cost line
The Raja Ampat fleet shares a season, so it shares a maintenance window. Booking into the shoulder period gives better
slipway availability, more attention from the trades and fewer schedule collisions; booking late into the peak maintenance rush
means competing for the same welders and the same cradle. Season timing and lead times are covered on the
haul-out page.
How to compare two quotations honestly
Put both on the same basis before comparing totals. Are lay days included or charged separately, and from which day? Is the
coating specification the same number of coats to the same film thickness? Who pays for staging, power, water and waste
disposal? Are surveyor attendance and freight inside the number or outside it? Is the contingency stated or hidden? A quotation
that is 15 per cent lower and silent on four of those questions is not the lower quotation. Our scopes state assumptions and
exclusions explicitly, and the work is managed under
project management and owner representation. Contracts are
issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara and all values are stated in USD.
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 budgeting and cost planning. 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
- Refit Budget Overruns: The Five Causes and How to Cap Them
- Biaya Galangan Kapal di Raja Ampat dan Sorong untuk Investor
- How Long Does a Full Liveaboard Refit Take in West Papua?
Frequently asked questions
Why will you not publish a price list?
Because vessel length, hull material, condition, coating specification and scope drive the number far more than any per-unit rate. A published list would either be so wide as to be useless or so specific as to be wrong. We quote a defined scope in USD instead.
How much should I budget for annual maintenance on a Raja Ampat liveaboard?
It depends on hull material, size and condition, and on how much has been deferred. The reliable method is to build the budget from the seven components — lift, lay days, labour, materials, logistics, third parties and contingency — against a specific scope, then add lost charter revenue for the downtime. We will build that structure with you before quoting.
What contingency percentage is realistic here?
It is set by how much of the vessel is unknown, not by a standard figure. A vessel with current thickness readings and recently opened tanks needs far less than one that has not been surveyed in years. We state the contingency as its own line so you can see and challenge it.
Is it less expensive to dock in Sorong than in Java or Bali?
Labour rates in West Papua are generally lower, but freight, parts lead time and specialist mobilisation are higher, and productivity per day can be lower. For a vessel already working Raja Ampat, avoiding a long delivery passage and the associated lost charter days is usually the decisive factor rather than the yard rate itself.