Meet Singaporean Who Converted Century-Old Ship Into Beachfront Hotel

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Eric Saw, the 73-year-old founder of Doulos Phos The Ship Hotel, in Bintan, Indonesia. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I used to bring my children aboard the MV Doulos, a 430-foot-long ship belonging to a Christian missionary, when it would dock on Singapore’s shores. It had spent 33 years as a floating library sailing around the world.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one day we would become owners of this vessel, or that I would convert it into a hotel on the shores of Indonesia.

In 2010, I bought the MV Doulos, which had earned the Guinness World Record for being the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship.

It was built in Texas in 1914, just two years after the Titanic sank.

From 1914 to 1948, it operated as a cargo ship carrying onions. I often joke to my guests that we found a few sacks of onions when we bought the ship and still make onion soup from them.

When I bought the vessel, it was 96 years old. Here’s how I turned it into an oceanfront hotel while preserving its century-old history.

Not my first rodeo with ships

My first experience with ships came in 2000 when I bought a riverboat, which at that time belonged to A&W Restaurants.

I bought that and converted it into a floating Tex-Mex restaurant on the shores of Sentosa, an island off Singapore known for its luxury hotels, amusement parks, and beaches.

When I heard that MV Doulos was up for sale in 2010, I saw it as a sign to do something bigger.

I was not the only bidder for the ship. A mix of private companies, militaries, and scrapyards from China, South Africa, South Korea, India, and the Philippines made offers for it.

As luck would have it, I won the bid. But that is where the real challenges started.

I didn’t realize just how big this project would get.

Finding its final resting place in Bintan, Indonesia

I first wanted to dock it off the coast of Singapore. I placed it in a shipyard, hoping that within three months, I would get approval from the port authorities.

I bargained with government agencies for permission to place it off the island’s scenic east coast.

Three months turned into three and a half years. I submitted six to seven proposals to various authorities without success.

In the meantime, I bled money docking and maintaining the ship in a shipyard.

Finally, I struck gold. My friend gave me the number of Frans Gunara, a hotel developer from Bintan, Indonesia. I met him for a dinner presentation and put forth my case.

He said that he would not only give him a spot off of Bintan to dock the ship but also reclaim a piece of land to dry berth it, which would protect it from water damage.

But I decided to go a little further.

I told Frans, “I don’t want a rectangular piece of land. I want an anchor-shaped island.”

Retrofitting the ship

There was much to be done after the ship had been placed on Bintan’s shores, on its anchor-shaped piece of reclaimed land.

The innards of the ship, the cabins, were dingy and small. It was clean, but definitely not at hotel standards — not even a backpackers’ hotel.

So my family and I sat down and planned. I drew the design of the tables, the interiors, and the outdoor space. I drew out how the poolside would look and where you would go down to do the mud flat walk at low tide.

I passed the drawings to the contractors, and they started constructing. Most of the ship was gutted and entirely retrofitted.

When we removed the ship’s bulkheads, which in ocean-going ships reduce damage in the case of flooding, we had to reinforce the structure and other cladding to protect the boat.

The cabins were widened, and we added larger windows to let in views of the Bintan shores. The interiors were designed with a nod to its maritime history.

After renovation, we finally opened our doors to guests in 2019. Doulos Phos The Ship Hotel has 105 cabins, an infinity swimming pool overlooking the sea, a gym, a spa center, and several eateries.

It took nearly 10 years to restore MV Doulos and get it into operation, but I saw the project as a higher calling — and it was entirely worth it.