| A ferry transportation system consists of many factors, which interact in a complex manner. Such system is very difficult to analyze analytically. A computer simulation is thus an appropriate method to aid in understanding the system and its design.; The Province of Maluku, which consists of thousands of islands spread haphazardly, has suffered from having an ineffective sea transportation system. A good sea transportation system is essential for the development of this island province.; The purpose of this study is to analyze a ferry transportation system suitable for the Province of Maluku. As an initial step, the study purposes to model ferry traffic between a major port Ambon and nine outlaying smaller communities on surrounding islands.; The performance of the ship to be measured is the time spent during its annual operation, that is, travelling voyage time at sea, waiting time at the offing, and service time at a dock in a port. The other performance of the ships to be measured is the annual number of trip needed by a particular ship to be carry the annual quantity of commodity. In doing so, a computer model written in MODSIM III is used to support decision-making.; Since the actual commodity data were inaccessible, a very general model was developed which can be utilized under any conditions, making the model very flexible to changing. The model will be run under some configurations, which includes the use of five different types of ship and its quantity in a particular route. A trial and error procedure will be carried out in order to obtain several optimum performances of ships in the whole system. |
