Key River Transport, Sarawak River, Kuching City

A yellow goods motorboat with a lone helmsman, used to carry goods along the Sarawak River, travels down the brown tidal river past a yellow roofed ferry station and a yellow river ferry, with a ferryman, waiting for customers, who are coming down from the terminal building, backed by lush green tropical vegetation. The ferry is manoeuvred across the river by twin oars operated by the ferryman, that are also the motive power for the ferry.

The rivers in Sarawak State are a very important means of transport, as some Kampongs (villages) are only reachable during the rainy season by boat.

The goods boat is narrow as the river tributaries are often narrow and during the dry season shallow.

In some remote parts of Sarawak the only available access during the rainy season is by boat and the state's electricity company in electrifying the remote areas used boats to take the solar-PV equipment and the distribution equipment to these isolated Kampongs.

The requirement to electrify all areas in the state had been written into the State's Grid Code by this photographer while drafting the full code and I took this picture during a subsequent visit to see how it was being implemented.

The ferry is important as the north side, where the ferry is waiting, is where the major offices are, but many people live on the south side of the river, from where the picture was taken, so use the ferry to get to work and return after work.