SAKIGAKE管理人 Field Survey Report: Spermonde Islands, Indonesia
Protecting the freshness of seafood requires more than simply installing refrigerators or freezers. The electricity to run the equipment, the ice used immediately after catch, the logistics to transport goods off the island, and the maintenance system for when things break down — only when all of these function together in sequence does a cold chain actually work.
From May 29 to June 18, 2026, SAKIGAKE JAPAN Corp. conducted a field survey in Indonesia lasting approximately three weeks. This survey was carried out to confirm demonstration candidate sites for the “Off-Grid Seafood Cold Chain Transport System,” a project selected under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “Global South GX Promotion Project.”
We would also like to note that for this field survey, Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd. provided extensive support — from designing the survey itinerary to coordinating with local stakeholders and conducting the survey itself. We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude.
One of the survey destinations was the Spermonde Islands, located off the coast of Makassar in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. We visited multiple islands and confirmed post-catch storage methods, ice usage, power supply, port access, and equipment maintenance systems. What became clear from walking the ground ourselves was not simply that “cooling equipment is lacking.” This article introduces the main challenges confirmed through the field survey and the points that should be reflected in future demonstration work.
Building a cold chain on remote islands requires designing energy, logistics, and maintenance operations together as a single integrated system — not just the equipment itself.
“Having Electricity” and “Being Able to Reliably Run Cooling Equipment” Are Different Things
The first thing we confirmed was the state of power supply on each island.
Whether refrigerators or freezers can be introduced is not determined simply by whether the equipment can be purchased. What matters is whether a continuous, stable power supply can be secured to run the equipment every day. On remote islands, even where electricity is supplied, it does not necessarily mean cooling equipment can be run continuously. In environments with unstable power supply, outages can interrupt cold storage, potentially compromising the quality of seafood.
Using diesel generators as an alternative also brings new challenges — the cost of procuring fuel, the burden of transporting it, and the maintenance of the equipment itself. Through this survey, we were able to reconfirm, from the actual living conditions on the ground, why an off-grid system combining solar power and storage batteries is needed.
What matters is not simply installing solar panels. It is essential to design, as one integrated system, both the mechanism for generating power and the mechanism for storing and using cold energy — taking into account each island’s solar conditions, required cooling capacity, hours of operation, battery storage capacity, and frequency of equipment use.
Ice Is Being Used. But That Doesn’t Mean It Can Always Be Secured When Needed
For local fishermen, the primary means of preserving the freshness of their catch is ice.
However, procuring and storing ice is not something that can be done easily on every island. In cases where a sufficient amount of ice cannot be produced locally, it must be transported from the mainland or other islands. Procuring ice takes both cost and time, and supply can be affected by weather conditions and boat operation schedules.
In other words, using ice and being able to reliably use the necessary amount of ice at the necessary time are not the same thing. The storage facilities we confirmed on site did contain ice, but what we saw revealed the reality of fishermen working to maintain freshness within limited equipment and resources.
In the system SAKIGAKE JAPAN Corp. is considering, solar power generation and storage batteries are used to cool and charge PCM (specialized thermal storage material), which is then combined with highly insulated boxes. Through this approach, we aim to build a system that connects seafood at a consistent temperature range — from the fishing boat, through remote-island cold-storage hubs, all the way to land transport — without relying solely on ice or refrigerated trucks.
That said, the goal is not to replace all local ice use with PCM. It is necessary to design which processes should use ice and which should use PCM, while confirming existing ice usage practices and fishermen’s working habits.
Equipment Is Not “Done” Once It’s Installed
Another challenge we strongly recognized through the field survey was the system for equipment maintenance and operation.
No matter how high-performing the cooling equipment introduced may be, specialized technicians are not necessarily stationed on remote islands. When a breakdown occurs, who discovers the anomaly? Who do they contact, and how is it repaired? Where are replacement parts transported from, and how long does it take? Without this kind of operational design in place, equipment may simply fall out of use after a single breakdown.
For this reason, introduction must be designed to include not only the performance of the equipment, but also the following:
- Selection and training of local operations personnel
- Procedures for daily inspection and cleaning
- Communication and decision-making flow in the event of a breakdown
- Procurement methods for consumables and replacement parts
- Mechanisms for remote monitoring and technical support
- Operating finances, including repair and replacement costs
This is not limited to cold chains. The same applies to disaster prevention equipment and BCP-related equipment: “installing” it is not the goal — creating a state in which it can continue to be operated after installation is what matters. By surveying an environment with the significant constraints of remote islands, we reconfirmed that the design of operations and maintenance is just as important as the performance of the equipment itself.
Each Island Has a Different “Optimal System”
Even though the islands making up the Spermonde Islands are located in the same region, conditions are not uniform. Population, catch volume, target fish species, existing equipment, port environment, distance to the mainland, boat operation frequency, and stakeholder structures all differ from island to island.
Some islands have relatively good port access, while others can only be reached by small boats, making the transport and maintenance of equipment itself difficult. For this reason, applying a single standardized piece of equipment uniformly to every island is not necessarily appropriate.
While maintaining a common technological foundation, the following must be adjusted according to each island’s conditions:
- Capacity of solar panels and storage batteries
- Required amount of PCM and charging frequency
- Size and quantity of insulated cold-storage boxes
- Method of cold storage on board fishing boats
- Division of roles between on-island storage and mainland transport
- Operating entity and cost-bearing structure for the equipment
- Alternative means in the event of a breakdown
The greatest lesson learned from this visit is that rather than applying “one correct answer” to every island, an introduction model must be designed by combining a common technological base with each island’s individual operating conditions.
Toward the Next Stage of Demonstration
Going forward, based on the information gathered on-site, we will organize data on catch volume, transport time, ice usage, required temperature range, and power conditions for each candidate site, and further specify the demonstration system’s specifications. In the demonstration, we plan to verify effectiveness not only in terms of whether the equipment operates, but also from the following perspectives:
- Temperature changes from post-catch to market arrival
- Freshness and quality of the seafood
- Costs associated with ice, fuel, and transport
- The number of times PCM can be reused and its operability
- Operating status of the solar power generation and storage battery system
- Feasibility of operation and maintenance by local personnel
- Effects on food loss and CO₂ emission reduction
Building a system that is not only technically functional, but one that local fishermen and businesses can continue to use over the long term, is an essential objective of this demonstration.
Conclusion
What we were able to confirm through this visit to the Spermonde Islands is that supporting a seafood cold chain on remote islands requires considering electricity, ice, transport, and maintenance operations together as one integrated whole — not cooling equipment alone.
The challenges faced by remote islands are not unique to Indonesia. In island and coastal regions where power and logistics infrastructure remain fragile, how to build sustainable cold-chain logistics with limited resources is an important issue from the perspectives of climate change adaptation, food loss reduction, and strengthening regional industry.
SAKIGAKE JAPAN Corp. will continue to advance the social implementation of the “Off-Grid Seafood Cold Chain Transport System,” which combines solar power generation, storage batteries, PCM (specialized thermal storage material), and highly insulated boxes, while accumulating further field surveys and demonstrations.
We are currently recruiting partners in the fields of fisheries, logistics, renewable energy, storage batteries, thermal technology, universities and research institutions, local governments, and international cooperation. If your company or organization is interested in participating in the demonstration, technical collaboration, or local deployment, please contact us.
▶ Details on the Off-Grid Seafood Cold Chain Transport System
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