The Effectiveness of Pilot Marine Transport Services for Goods Distribution in Maluku Island Group, Indonesia

Characteristics of Indonesia as an archipelago country, result in the need on strategy of equitable development in the regions of island group by organizing pilot marine transport (PMT) system. Pioneer ship visit the pioneer ports spread over small islands that are relatively backward or isolated where sea transport service is very limited. This study is aimed to examine the characteristics and effectiveness of PMT services, particularly in the context of distribution in the Maluku province. The quantitative descriptive analysis with univariate statistics approach is applied to analyze the characteristics of PMT services. Furthermore the effectiveness of the PMT service is assessed through six criteria: continuity, safety, vessel capacity, frequency of shipping, cost, and integration. It is analyzed by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in which the respondents of the questionnaires consist of government officers and goods distributors/customer. The level of effectiveness of each criteria according to each stakeholder is different. In general, the effectiveness PMT services in Maluku province is rated as “ineffective”.