Komodo Shipyard is a yard-side engineering and project desk for vessels that work inside Komodo National Park. We handle three things: refit and conversion of existing liveaboards, owner-side project management of new builds placed at Indonesian yards, and the shoreside logistics of hauling out, docking and re-certifying a boat in the Labuan Bajo area. Construction, repair, refit and vessel-sale contracts are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara. All quotations are in USD.
What makes a Komodo boat different from any other Indonesian boat
Most build advice you will find online is written for calm-water cruising. Komodo is not calm water. The straits between Rinca, Padar and Komodo island run tidal streams that can exceed six knots at spring tide, with standing waves, upwellings and whirlpools that change position through the day. A hull that behaves perfectly in the Java Sea can become unmanageable at Batu Bolong or Tatawa on a full-moon exchange.
That single fact drives most of the engineering decisions on this site. It is why we push owners toward more installed engine power than a naval architect would specify for the same displacement elsewhere. It is why bow thruster sizing, anchor gear and tender horsepower get argued over in detail. It is why draft is a commercial decision and not just a hydrostatic one — a metre of extra draft can close off half a dozen anchorages your competitors are selling.
The second differentiator is regulatory. Komodo National Park is a managed conservation area with a park authority, a harbour master at Labuan Bajo, and a layered set of national vessel, crew and environmental rules on top. A boat can be beautifully built and still be commercially useless if the paperwork chain — ownership entity, registration, passenger certification, crew tickets, waste handling — was never designed alongside the steel.
The three services
1. Refit and conversion
The largest part of our workload. Existing phinisi, ex-fishing vessels and tired charter boats brought up to a standard that a dive operator can actually sell: hull and frame survey, structural repair, engine repower, stabiliser retrofit, dive deck and tender-handling modification, interior rebuild, and the systems work — compressors, watermakers, gensets, HVAC — that decides whether guests rebook. See Komodo liveaboard refit and conversion for scope, sequencing and what we refuse to do.
2. New-build project management and owner’s representation
We are not a builder of record competing for your hull contract. We sit on your side of the table: writing the technical brief so multiple yards quote comparable scopes, reviewing the shipbuilding contract, setting payment milestones against verifiable physical progress, attending the yard through construction, and running sea trial and handover. Details on the new-build supervision page.
3. Labuan Bajo yard logistics
Haul-out slots, slipway capacity, annual docking windows, antifoul cycles, spares and fuel logistics into eastern Flores. Practical constraints most owners discover too late — covered on the Labuan Bajo yard and haul-out page. Shoreside berthing between yard periods is a separate question; the Labuan Bajo shoreside berthing reference covers that side.
Start with the specification, not the shipyard
The most expensive mistake we see is an owner who picks a yard first and writes the specification afterwards. The yard then writes it for them, in its own interest, and every later change becomes a variation order. Reverse the sequence. Decide the operating profile — guest count, trip length, dive intensity, season, whether you will run to Alor and Raja Ampat or stay inside the park — and let that generate the numbers. Our Komodo liveaboard specification guide walks the whole chain from cabin count back to generator load.
Once the specification is stable, cost becomes predictable. The cost and timeline guide gives indicative USD ranges for new build, refit and annual docking, and explains why Labuan Bajo, Bali and the Sulawesi yards price the same job differently.
Compliance is engineering, not paperwork
We treat park compliance as a design input. Holding tank volume follows guest count and trip length. Mooring gear follows the anchoring restrictions in sensitive zones. Passenger certification follows the number of berths you install, which is why cabin count must be settled before the interior is framed. The Komodo National Park compliance guide is the most detailed public reference we maintain, and it exists because no other yard publishes one.
Before you buy an existing boat
Roughly half the owners who contact us are considering a secondhand liveaboard already operating in Labuan Bajo. That is often the fastest route into the market, and it is also where the largest hidden liabilities sit — soft frames under fresh paint, undocumented engine hours, expired certification, a hull that was extended without calculation. The pre-purchase survey and sea trial page explains what an independent inspection actually covers and what it cannot tell you.
Where we sit
Komodo Shipyard is a specialist maritime brand under Juara Holding Group, working alongside a wider group of maritime desks. Repair and refit demand that reaches the group through charter operations is routed via the fleet repair and refit desk. Owners looking beyond Flores can compare yard capability through the shipyard network across Indonesia.
We do not publish client lists, awards, association memberships or star ratings. What we publish is method — the questions we ask, the numbers we work to, and the failure modes we have seen. If that is useful to you, the fastest way to start is to send us the vessel or the operating profile and let us tell you what it will actually take.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does Komodo Shipyard do?
Three things: refit and conversion of liveaboards operating in Komodo, owner-side project management of new builds placed at Indonesian yards, and Labuan Bajo yard logistics including haul-out, docking and re-certification. Construction, repair, refit and vessel-sale contracts are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara.
Do you build boats yourselves or supervise other yards?
Both roles exist, but they are separated deliberately. On new builds we normally act as the owner’s representative and project manager rather than the builder of record, so that inspection and payment release stay independent of the yard doing the work.
Is a liveaboard for Komodo different from a general cruising yacht?
Materially. Tidal streams in the park straits can exceed six knots, which drives installed power, thruster sizing, anchor and mooring gear, and tender specification well above what the same displacement would need in calmer water. Park environmental and passenger rules also constrain holding tank volume, cabin count and crew certification.
What currency do you quote in?
USD only, for both refit and new-build scopes.
How do I get an indicative number for my project?
Send the vessel details or the operating profile you want to run to sales@komodoluxury.com or WhatsApp +62 811-3823-875. For an existing boat, a hull and machinery survey has to come before any refit figure is meaningful.
Talk to the build desk
Send the vessel details or the operating profile you want to run and we will tell you what has to be established before a number means anything. Quotations in USD. Construction, repair, refit and vessel-sale contracts are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara.