Director General of Sea Transportation Arif Toha said that coordination, consolidation, and evaluation of various strategic issues are among the duties and responsibilities of the directorate concerning the Sea and Coast Guard Unit, especially security and shipping safety issues in the Indonesian waters.
"I hope this can be used as a means to increase cooperation between the staffs and ranks, both at the Head Office and regional UPTs, in handling various problems," he remarked while opening a technical working meeting of the Directorate of Marine and Coastal Guard Units (KPLP) in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He said that increasing coordination between related agencies in maintaining shipping security and safety will help make the implementation of shipping safety supervision tasks more professional, transparent, responsible, honest, effective, and efficient, thereby helping achieve excellent service integrity.
Besides being responsible for supervising the fulfillment of the seaworthiness of ships, KPLP also has other tasks related to rescue and provision of life-saving assistance at sea, Toha added.
Moreover, KPLP is always on standby for disaster mitigation, for which it must meet certain requirements in terms of procedures, personnel, equipment, and materials, as well as training to improve its competence and capability in search and rescue, firefighting, and the prevention of sea pollution, he emphasized.
"On this occasion, I appreciate the dedication of the KPLP staff in the field who take full responsibility to handle several disasters at sea that have occurred in Indonesian waters," Toha said.
Meanwhile, KPLP Director Captain Mugen Sartoto said that the complexity of the problems faced in the field should not dampen the officers' spirit to work carefully in securing the Indonesian waters.
"I hope that this event will be able to produce a mutual agreement, which will certainly be beneficial for the certainty and smooth implementation of our duties," Sartoto remarked.
The ranks of KPLP are spread across UPTs across Indonesia, specifically five Marine and Coast Guard (PPLP) bases, which are located in Tanjung Uban, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak Surabaya, Bitung, and Tual.
The KPLP currently has 374 vessels in its fleet and 10,940 officers.
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Translator: Adimas Raditya F P, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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