Route Knowledge and Coastal Realities: Seafarers' Perspectives on Indonesian Sea Transportation Management

Abstract

Indonesia's archipelagic geography makes sea transportation the operational backbone of coastal and island economies, yet the corridor-specific knowledge held by seafarers and nautical cadets remains structurally absent from sea transportation management and connectivity planning. This study examines how nautical cadets and active seafarers perceive the relationship between commercial vessel route operations and the connectivity needs of Indonesian coastal communities. A qualitative design was used, drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 15 Nautical major cadets from Malahayati Sea Transportation Institute Jakarta who completed twelve months of sea practical training (August 2024–September 2025), 5 active seafarers with up to ten years of operational experience, and 4 former seafarer-lecturers. Thematic analysis identified four dominant themes: route-community interdependence awareness, navigational route knowledge as connectivity intelligence, service gap observations, and practitioner agency deficit. Findings show that Indonesian seafarers hold rich, context-specific connectivity intelligence that formal sea transportation management structures systematically fail to capture, with direct implications for route planning, maritime education, and policy reform.