Pinisi ship: the Sulawesi cargo schooner that once carried the archipelago's trade

By Pinisi Boat Editorial Desk

A pinisi ship is the working, cargo-carrying form of the pinisi-rigged vessel from South Sulawesi. Before Indonesia's trading fleet took on engines in the 1970s and 1980s, these were the largest Indonesian sailing ships. Motorised versions, called Perahu Layar Motor, average about 300 tons of cargo, and one completed in Bulukumba in 2011 measured 50 metres by 9.

Does pinisi name a ship, a boat or a schooner?

None of them, strictly. UNESCO's description ties the word to the rig and sail of what it calls the famed Sulawesi schooner, so the English noun is a choice made by the writer. Wikipedia speaks of pinisi-rigged ships when it discusses size and trade, which is the sense used on this page. Here, a ship means a vessel that earns its living carrying cargo. Our overview of the pinisi boat takes the wider view, and the phinisi yacht page follows the guest-carrying version.

This has a practical consequence. Size cannot tell you whether a vessel is a pinisi, because the test is the rig: seven to eight sails on two masts. Equally, a large wooden hull with an engine and no such rig does not become a pinisi ship because someone calls it one.

How large were pinisi ships before they had engines?

They ranked first among their kind. Wikipedia states that pinisi-rigged vessels were the largest Indonesian sailing ships before the traditional trading fleet was motorised in the 1970s and 1980s. That is a ranking, with no measurement attached. We have not found a source for the tonnage of a sail-only pinisi, so resist reading the motorised figures further down this page backward into the sailing era.

The working period can be bracketed. The first Sulawesi pinisi is thought to date from 1906, and motorisation took hold in the 1970s and 1980s. The history page covers that span in order.

Two separate communities made this fleet work. Wikipedia says the ships were mainly built by Konjo-speaking people of Ara, in Bontobahari district of Bulukumba, and by people from Bira, Lemo-Lemo and Tana Beru. They were widely used by Buginese and Makassarese seafarers. The builders' villages and the crews' home ports were not necessarily the same places, which is worth remembering when an account credits the ship to one group alone.

What is a Perahu Layar Motor?

The name translates as motor sailing boat, usually shortened to PLM, and it is the term for a motorised pinisi. As engines came in during the 1970s and 1980s, average cargo capacity rose to about 300 tons, according to Wikipedia.

Hull form changed its emphasis too. Three general hull types have carried the rig. The palari is the older form, with a curved stern and keel and twin quarter rudders. The jonggolang dates from the mid-20th century and was built high from the start. The lambo is the one favoured by motorised vessels. The source does not explain that preference. The hull design guide describes all three.

Fitting an engine did not necessarily end the rig. The clearest evidence is the vessel in the next section, described as both motorised and pinisi-rigged decades after motorisation began.

How big is the largest cargo pinisi on record?

Among the sources used on this site, the largest cargo example was completed in Bulukumba in 2011: 50 metres long, 9 metres wide, with a capacity of about 500 tons, as Wikipedia records. The guest yacht Lamima is included below for scale.

Two cautions apply when reading these numbers. The tons here describe capacity, meaning what the ship can carry, and should not be taken as what the ship itself weighs. Our page on pinisi tonnage keeps those ideas apart. Second, the table gives lengths and beams as published, with Lamima's figures from a single press report, and two vessels cannot establish a design rule. For more dimensions, see phinisi boat sizes.

What did pinisi ships carry, and where can you find them?

The trade was inter-island. The example Wikipedia gives is timber from Kalimantan to Java, and it names two traditional ports these vessels frequent: Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta and Paotere in Makassar. Those harbours are where ships load and lie alongside, which makes them a different kind of visit from a building beach.

If Paotere is your target, Makassar's airport, Sultan Hasanuddin International (UPG), lies on the Makassar and Maros border, about 20 kilometres or roughly 15 minutes by toll road from the city centre. Our sources give no current count of pinisi still trading, and no timetable, so go without assuming a given ship will be in port. When you get there, apply the rig test before calling any wooden hull a pinisi. Where to see pinisi boats lists the other options.

How is pinisi ship spelled in English?

English writers use pinisi and phinisi interchangeably. Indonesian Wikipedia adds pinisiq and pinisi'. The ph form was an attempt to mimic Indonesian pronunciation, and it was first used for Phinisi Nusantara in 1986. That vessel was itself motorised, so the now-familiar spelling arrived attached to an engine-driven traditional ship sailing to Expo 86 in Vancouver. No spelling marks a difference in type. The spelling guide has the details.

What changed when the cargo ship became a yacht?

The unit of measurement changed first. A cargo record speaks in tons, while Lamima's record speaks in suites and guests. The place did not change much. Lamima was built on the beach at Bira and Ara, and both places sit in Bonto Bahari district of Bulukumba, the same regency that finished the 50-metre PLM only three years before that launch.

The vocabulary changed most of all. As Wikipedia observes, the word pinisi has spread to charter and dive vessels, so a reader researching cargo history will find tourism material mixed in under this name. To trace the working ship, follow sources that give a rig, a route or a tonnage.

What are the short answers on pinisi ships?

What is the difference between a pinisi ship and a pinisi yacht?

Purpose. The ship carries cargo and is measured in tons of capacity, while the yacht carries guests and is described by suites and guest numbers. Both names draw on the same rig.

How much cargo can a pinisi ship carry?

Motorised versions average about 300 tons, according to Wikipedia. One completed in Bulukumba in 2011 had a capacity of about 500 tons.

Do motorised pinisi ships still have sails?

Yes, at least some do. The 50-metre vessel completed in 2011 is described as pinisi-rigged even though it is a motorised Perahu Layar Motor.

Where did pinisi ships trade?

Between Indonesian islands. The recorded example is timber from Kalimantan to Java, calling at traditional ports such as Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta and Paotere in Makassar.

Is a phinisi ship different from a pinisi ship?

No. Phinisi is a later spelling of the same word, first used for the vessel Phinisi Nusantara in 1986.

Which sources support this page?

All facts on this page are as published when last checked in October 2026.

• UNESCO: Pinisi, art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi
• Wikipedia: Pinisi
• Wikipedia (Indonesian): Pinisi
• Wikipedia (Indonesian): Kabupaten Bulukumba
• Wikipedia: Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport
• CharterWorld: 65 m traditional phinisi completed

How do I reach the desk?

Questions about this page, or about a working vessel you have seen in a harbour, reach the desk on WhatsApp at 6281139414563 or at bd@juaraholding.com.