Yard & Access
Tana Beru Shipyard
Tana Beru is a village in Bonto Bahari district, Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, where wooden phinisi hulls are built on the open beach by Konjo and Bugis shipwrights known as panrita lopi. This almanac covers how to visit, how long a hull takes, and how to commission one.
- UNESCO-inscribed pinisi craft, 2017
- 12–15 km from Tanjung Bira
- Hull windows 10–24+ months by size
- Contracts by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara
A working beach yard, not a ticketed attraction.
UNESCO, 2017Pinisi — the art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi — inscribed on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Butta Panrita LopiBulukumba’s epithet: “land of the master boatbuilders” — centred on Tana Beru, Bira and Lemo-Lemo.
12–15 km from BiraOn the Makassar–Bira coastal road, roughly 180 km and a 4–5 hour drive from Makassar.
PT Komodo Galangan NusantaraBuild and supervision contracts on this site are issued by this entity, part of Juara Holding Group.
One almanac, three questions
Visit the beach. Read the timeline. Commission a hull.
Visit
See a working yard
Open shoreline, active builds, village etiquette. No ticket booth — this is a workplace that welcomes respectful visitors.
Timeline
How a hull takes shape
Keel to launch on the sand: stages, timber, ceremonies and the build calendar behind every phinisi standing on the beach.
Commission
Build one in your name
Build slots, stage-payment contracts and owner-side supervision, with USD pricing and written scope from day one.
Build windows
How long a phinisi hull takes at Tana Beru
| Vessel | Typical hull window | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 15–20 m hull | 10–14 months | Smaller charter and utility hulls; fastest path from keel-laying to launch. |
| 20–30 m hull | 14–20 months | The common liveaboard class; 30 m luxury builds are also reported at 12–18 months with larger crews. |
| 30–45+ m hull | 20–24+ months | Large expedition and flagship hulls; the biggest builds reported run to 36 months. |
Ranges as reported across published yard accounts of Tana Beru builds; every hull varies with size, specification, crew and timber supply. Full stage-by-stage detail: the build timeline.
Material & method
Hardwood, dowels and memory — no blueprints
Timber of the yard
Hulls at Tana Beru are carried by dense tropical hardwoods, joined with wooden dowels (pasak) rather than metal fasteners through much of the planking.
- Bitti — frames and structural members, the yard’s backbone timber
- Ironwood (ulin) — keel, stem and sternpost on demanding builds
- Teak — decks and joinery on charter-grade and export vessels
The Konjo method
Panrita lopi build hull-first, shaping planks before frames, working from inherited proportion rules instead of drawings — the method UNESCO inscribed in 2017.
- Hull-first — planking rises before the frames that lock it
- Proportion by memory — dimensions held by the master, not paper
- Hand joinery — dowelled planks, adze-finished surfaces
Rites of the build
Ceremonies from keel to launch
01
Keel-laying
A build opens with rites at the keel — the moment a contract becomes a vessel and the master takes responsibility for the hull.
02
Planking milestones
Blessings mark the hull’s growth as dowelled planking closes the body and deck beams go in.
03
Launch day
The finished hull is hauled to the waterline over timber rollers by ropes and many hands — a village event as much as a delivery.
Commissioning
USD pricing, stage payments, written scope
Commissioning at Tana Beru runs on stage payments tied to physical milestones — keel, planking, decking, launch — never a single deposit. Pricing is quoted in USD; Indonesian government fees are stated factually in IDR where they apply.
Build and supervision contracts are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara.
Journal
Latest from the yard
Heritage & People
The Apprenticeship Gap: Where the Next Generation of Shipwrights Went
Heritage & People
What UNESCO 2017 Changed and Did Not Change for Tana Beru
Heritage & People
Butta Panrita Lopi: How Bulukumba Earned Its Title
Heritage & People
Panrita Lopi: Who the Master Shipwrights of Bulukumba Actually Are
Ownership & Contracts
Liveaboard, Charter or Cargo: Three Business Cases for One Hull
Tana Beru is a village in Bonto Bahari district, Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, where wooden phinisi hulls are built on the open beach by Konjo and Bugis shipwrights known as panrita lopi.
Tana Beru Shipyard is a specialist maritime brand under Juara Holding Group, documenting the Tana Beru boatbuilding beach and coordinating newbuild commissions and owner-side supervision with the village’s independent master shipwrights. We describe the yard’s work; the beach, the hulls and the craft belong to the panrita lopi of Bulukumba.