Five students from the Marine Engineering study programme, Department of Mechanical Engineering (DTM), Faculty of Engineering (FT), University of Indonesia (UI) class of 2021, made UI proud through their design of a fishing vessel with a hybrid engine. The students are Ken Nafilahshafa Sahatisae, Muhammad Akbar Ramsha Oetama, Muhammad Daffa Nafis Shafwan, Rawhul Ihsan Setyoko, and Vincent Collin, the designer of the ship named Fishull Vinkay, under the guidance of DTM FTUI lecturer, Dr. Eng. Gerry Liston Putra, S.T., M.T.
Fishull Vinkay is a fishing vessel with two main advantages. First, the hybrid engine, which is a quieter engine innovation, uses environmentally friendly solar power and reduces the use of diesel fuel, thereby reducing ship operating costs. Second, it has Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) technology, which is a fish storage area with cooling technology that utilises seawater to maintain the quality of fishermen’s catch.
“We made the Fishull Vinkay design by looking at the condition of Indonesian waters; in this case, we focused on Wakatobi waters, which have great potential for marine resources. However, the utilisation of capture fisheries potential in Wakatobi currently only reaches 6.4%. One of the obstacles faced by fishermen is the high operational costs of their vessels, especially the cost of diesel fuel. The Fishull Vinkay design is expected to help Wakatobi fishermen as an alternative to fishing boats that are environmentally friendly and can reduce diesel fuel consumption,” said Akbar.
Dr. Gerry Liston also explained the advantages of the Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) technology used in the Fishull Vinkay ship design: “RSW has several advantages, namely longer storage time, can avoid physical damage, temperature drop will take place quickly, and provides more options for fish handling procedures. easy and fast, and the physical quality of the fish stored is better than when using other storage technologies.”
Fishull Vinkay was designed as a 30-GT vessel adapted to the local wisdom of Indonesian fishermen. Complete fishing gear is installed in the form of a handline. The Fishull Vinkay ship is also equipped with solar panels that are used to absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity.
The Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU, expressed his appreciation for the achievement of this DTM FTUI student. “The design of the Fishull Vinkay fishing vessel by students and lecturers of Marine Engineering at FTUI is an innovative idea that is superior and has an impact on the development of the Indonesian maritime sector. With an area of 6,400,000 km2 of Indonesian waters, it is necessary to contribute new ideas and innovations in the field of shipping that can be applied efficiently for the utilisation of our marine resources to generate value in terms of functionality, technology, and improvement of the Indonesian economy.”
Thanks to this innovation, the five students who are members of the Bing Chilling team won 3rd place in the Design Boat Innovation Competition of Maritime, Education, and Training (COMET) 4.0 category, which was held by the Surabaya State Shipping Polytechnic on March 5, 2023. COMET 4.0 is a competition with the theme Fisheries Technological Innovation to Optimise the Quality of the Fish in Wakatobi. The purpose of holding this competition is to optimise the quality of catches in Wakatobi marine waters.
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia