Search and rescue station location selection and conceptual design: A case study of western region of Indonesia

The existence of marine Search and Rescue Units (SRU) to support the search and rescue operations currently are not supported by sufficient infrastructures and facilities. The infrastructures and facilities operated by the National Search and Rescue Agency (NSARA) have not been able to cover all working areas. One example is the location of NSARA dock facilities which is in remote area and has a narrow access channel causes duration to get to the area of accident is quite long. In that condition, the coordination among the SAR vessels and crew cannot perform efficiently and effectively. On the other hand, the National SAR Agency regulation No. 14, the year 2015, describes the necessary infrastructures and facilities that must be provided to support the implementation of marine SAR operations. This paper uses Western Region of Indonesia as a case study aiming to determine the optimum location and conceptual design of SAR station. Set Covering Problem method used to determine SAR station location and SAR vessels required, whereas conceptual design of the infrastructures is established based on data of routes and location selected. From the set covering model, we found 10 locations of SAR station, namely Aceh, South Kalimantan, Bengkulu, South Sumatra Bangka Belitung, Riau, West Kalimantan, Central Java, Riau Islands, and Yogyakarta. There is a total of 20 units of ships deploy with the total operation cost of IDR 263 billion/year (USD 18.5 million/year). The minimum dimensions of the berth have a length of 15 m and a width 5 m, while the gangway has a length of 163 m and a width of 5 m. The total cost of SAR station is IDR 8 billion/year (USD 562,390/year).