An oversupply of tugs and barges in Indonesia is set hit the country’s shipyards on the island of Batam close to Singapore.

Peter Chuang, gm of PT Sentek Indonesia and treasurer of the Batam Shipyard & Offshore Association, told Mare Forum Singapore that there were there was an oversupply of tugs and barges in Batam with 200 pairs idle.

On the island of Kalimantan, the centre of Indonesia’s coal mining where tugs and barges are used to haul coal down river from the mines for floating transhipment to large bulkers, he said there were 1,000 pairs of tugs and barges waiting for cargoes.

Chuang said that vessels would have to be laid-up and scrapped.

It is also bad news for Batam’s 110 shipyards which build large numbers of tugs and barges annually and he said some yards would be merged while others would be closed down.