Keeping the Lights On in Qatar's Milaha Vessel

The scorching Doha sun has done nothing to dampen Muhamad Wildan Fadhila's work rate as he works on the helipad of the lift boat Milaha Explorer. The vessel is anchored at Qatar Shipyard for routine maintenance, and for nearly a month now the young man known to most as Wildan has been carrying out his international hands-on training aboard.

Milaha Explorer is an accommodation vessel for offshore workers, owned by Milaha, Qatar's largest maritime and logistics company. The lift boat has a deadweight of 2,100 tons and has been in service since 2016. "The ship has beds, dining areas, even a fitness center," he said when contacted in mid-July.

An Electrical Engineering student at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS), Wildan is spending the hands-on training as a trainee electrical technician at Milaha. His job is to keep the ship's electrical systems running, from navigation lights and emergency panels to the equipment in the galley.

One of his tasks is replacing lights in the helipad area, which juts out over the sea from the ship's upper deck. Little wonder he has to work in a safety harness. A single misstep could send him into the water below.

Another is repairing emergency panels at several points around the ship. These control the emergency alarm system, which ties into the loudspeakers, the fire suppressors, and the lifeboat system. The work matters, Wildan said, because electrical equipment on a ship is so vulnerable to rust.

Untroubled by heights, he has also been sent up several of the ship's masts to replace navigation lights. Qatar's heat forces him to work with extra focus to get the job done.

When he first landed in mid-June, the heat of the Arabian Peninsula caught him off guard. It grew fiercer still when he reached Milaha's Qatar Shipyard dock, 49 kilometers south of Doha. Low-lying terrain, the peninsula, and the summer season combine to push daytime temperatures as high as 54 degrees Celsius. "It's unbelievably hot," he said.

If the outdoor work means extreme heat, the indoor work is no easier for this eighth-semester student. Wildan has to take extra care repairing electrical equipment inside the cabin, where it sits tucked into narrow gaps between the ship's rooms.

His days on the ship run from the moment he wakes until he falls asleep. His orange field uniform has become his everyday attire, and he said he has not had a proper day off the whole time he has been aboard. Only on Fridays does he get a little spare time, working just a half day.

Working in the country nicknamed Petrodolar has given Wildan real industry experience along with global exposure. At least five Indonesians, Wildan among them, work on the ship, alongside crew from several countries, most of them from India.

Each day he watches the crew's work ethic and discipline. They are, by his account, highly skilled and quick with their tools, and seeing them give everything to the job has pushed him to do the same.

The language barrier has turned out not to be a problem. Wildan admits his English is still short of fluent, but he leans on what he has and fills the gaps with body language. "The main thing is confidence," he said with a smile.

The young man from Cilegon, Banten, first heard about the opening from a friend who works at Milaha. An only child, he was not about to let the chance slip. "This is my first time working abroad," he said.

Before leaving for Qatar, Wildan had to pull together a stack of documents and earn several certifications. One was Basic Safety Training (BST), required of prospective workers whose education lies outside maritime studies.

He also had to certify in Seafarer With Designated Security Duties, Survival Craft and Rescue Boats, Helicopter Underwater Escape Training, and Advanced Fire Fighting.

Most of these he completed in Indonesia, some at a maritime school in Semarang and others online.

Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) was one of the most memorable. It teaches you to get out of and survive a helicopter that has ditched or crashed into water. Wildan took it in Qatar, just before starting at Milaha.

With the paperwork behind him, he finally began work on 15 June 2026. "Alhamdulillah, I also get a stipend of somewhere between 500 and 1,000 US dollars during training," he said.

Wildan has been steeped in electrical engineering since his days at the Yayasan Pendidikan Warga Krakatau Steel Vocational High School in Cilegon, Banten. He spent four years there. "Three years of classroom learning, one year of apprenticeship," he explained.

His hands-on experience began with internships at several companies in Banten, among them PT Artas Energi Petrogas, where he repaired speed panels on crane machines, fixed motors, and worked as a 20-kilovolt panel operator.

He also trained at the Center for Vocational and Productivity Training in Serang Regency, learning to handle high-current electrical equipment and practicing with control installation tools.

That vocational grounding left Wildan in conviction about studying Electrical Engineering at UMS. On campus he threw himself into the Aerobo robotics community, which focused on developing flying robots.

Two years running, he took his team to the finals of the Indonesian Flying Robot Contest, and it was little surprise when he was made chair of Aerobo for 2024 to 2025. A championship has so far eluded them, but he keeps pushing his teammates toward research and toward building better flying robots.

Not one to stay a big fish in a small pond, Wildan took on the international hands-on learning in Qatar. The experience has deepened his industry exposure and given him something to stand on before he enters the workforce after graduation.

Asked about his hopes, Wildan answered without hesitation: "I'd love to come back and work at Milaha."

Writer: Gede Arga Adrian

Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid

Editor: Al Habiib Josy Asheva