Phinisi Building in Bira & Tanjung Bira — The Bonto Bahari Yards

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Bira is the name most people know — the white-sand headland of Tanjung Bira at the south-eastern tip of South Sulawesi. Just inland and along the same coast are the working boatbuilding hamlets of Bonto Bahari, where phinisi are still framed in the open air on the sand. This page is about building a phinisi here: the place, the yards, and how a commission works on an open beach rather than in a covered hall.

Tanjung Bira and the Bonto Bahari coast

Bonto Bahari is the sub-district that contains Bira, Ara, Tana Lemo and Lemo-Lemo. Tanjung Bira is the tourist headland; the hulls are built about 12 km away at Ara and Lemo-Lemo , and the whole coast sits within Bulukumba Regency , known across Indonesia as Butta Panrita Lopi, the Land of the Master Shipwrights.

Building on an open beach

A phinisi yard does not look like a Western shipyard. There is no dry dock and no covered shed. The keel and hull blocks are set on the sand above the high-tide line, and the hull is planked and framed in the open, under palm-thatch shelters against the sun. When the vessel is finished it is hauled down the beach and floated on a spring tide. This open-air method is exactly why the build sequence and timber selection matter so much — the hull is exposed to weather from its first plank.

Who builds — punggawa and sawi

Each hull is run by a punggawa, the master builder, working with a team of sawi — the shipwrights and apprentices. The knowledge is held in the hands: hull shape is judged by eye and batten, not from a full set of frames drawn first. Our role is to marry that craft with a written specification, engineering drawings and modern class compliance , so an owner gets both the soul of a Bira-built hull and the paperwork a modern vessel needs.

Commissioning a build at Bira

A commission at Bira follows the same four stages as any of our builds — see commission a phinisi . The difference here is the setting: you can stand on the beach where your hull is growing. We arrange yard visits, and because Tanjung Bira is a resort coast, a visit to see your keel combines easily with a stay. For neighbouring general timber-boat work beyond phinisi, see general wooden boat building in Bira and Ara.

The rhythm of an open-beach yard

Work on the Bira coast follows the sun and the tide. Hulls are framed in the cooler hours under palm-thatch shade, and the finished vessel waits for a spring tide to float free. This rhythm shapes the schedule: a hard wet season slows outdoor work, which is one reason a realistic timeline builds in margin rather than promising a single launch date.

Bira, Ara and the wider coast

It helps to hold the geography clearly. Tanjung Bira is the headland and resort; Ara, Tana Lemo and Lemo-Lemo are the building hamlets a few kilometres away; and the whole coast sits inside Bulukumba Regency . Along the same shore are neighbouring boatbuilding communities, including Tana Beru, each with its own yards and specialisms. We build phinisi; for general timber craft the neighbouring beaches serve.

Seeing your hull grow

There is something a photograph cannot convey about standing beside a half-planked hull on the sand, hearing the adze work and smelling the ironwood . Owners who visit during the build almost always come away more confident in the decision. We encourage at least one visit, ideally around keel-laying or planking, when the craft is most visible.

Construction, new-build and refit contracts are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara. Part of Juara Holding Group.