Is Tana Beru open to the public?

Yes. There is no gate, no ticket booth and no published opening hours, because it is an active workplace rather than a managed attraction. Crews generally work between about 08:00 and 17:00, and mornings are the most active part of the day.

What is the difference between Tana Beru and Bira?

Bira is the beach and ferry village at the tip of the peninsula, about 12 km away and roughly 20 minutes by road. Tana Beru is the shoreline where the hulls are actually built. Most travellers sleep at Bira and visit Tana Beru during the day.

How long does a wooden vessel take to build here?

A 30-metre hull is commonly quoted at nine to twelve months. Smaller craft are often cited at ten to fourteen months, and large custom yachts with full interior fit-out at twenty to twenty-four months or more, depending on timber supply and payment rhythm.

Heavy tropical hardwoods. Bitti and ironwood are the usual choices for structural members and planking, with teak used for joinery and finish work. Planks are fastened with wooden dowels rather than nails.

Who issues the contract for a build?

Construction, repair, refit and vessel-sale contracts in this service class are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara. Quotations and contract values are stated in USD.

Bonto Bahari · Bulukumba · South Sulawesi

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.

WhatsApp the Build Desk Plan a Yard Visit

A working beach yard, not a ticketed attraction.

Heritage

UNESCO, 2017

Pinisi — the art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi — inscribed on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Epithet

Butta Panrita Lopi

Bulukumba’s epithet: “land of the master boatbuilders” — centred on Tana Beru, Bira and Lemo-Lemo.

Access

12–15 km from Bira

On the Makassar–Bira coastal road, roughly 180 km and a 4–5 hour drive from Makassar.

Contracts

PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara

Build and supervision contracts on this site are issued by this entity, part of Juara Holding Group.

Wooden phinisi hull on the shoreline at Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, planking and deck frames exposed with crew working on deck — A phinisi hull under construction on the shoreline at Bulukumba, South Sulawesi.

One almanac, three questions

Visit the beach. Read the timeline. Commission a hull.

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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

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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

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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

Read the timber guide

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

Read the method in full

Rites of the build

Ceremonies from keel to launch

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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.

The full ceremony calendar

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.

WhatsApp the Build Desk Phinisi cost guide How commissioning works

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