$270m spent in transshipment costs<\/p>\n
Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia could have saved US$270 million in transshipment costs
\nevery year if its exporters and importers did not use Singapore
\nas a hub for exports and imports, an Indonesian Exporters
\nAssociation (GPEI) official says.<\/p>\n
GPEI secretary-general Toto Dirgantoro said on Friday that
\ncurrently 80 percent of Indonesia's total exports and imports
\nwent through Singapore. The city-state has the facilities to
\nconnect Indonesia with major trading partners across the globe.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia could save hundreds of millions of dollars if the
\ngovernment materialized its plan to make Jakarta the country's
\nnational and international hub for direct shipment to other
\ncontinents,\" he told reporters on Friday.<\/p>\n
He added that transshipment costs eventually added to product
\nprices, meaning the goods become less competitive on the global
\nmarket.<\/p>\n
Toto said domestic exporters and importers had no choice but
\nto have their goods shipped through Singapore because Indonesia
\ndid not have adequate ports to accommodate direct long-haul
\nshipments.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that the government, through the Ministry of
\nTransportation, had actually issued last year a ministerial
\ndecree to make Jakarta a national shipping hub. However, no
\nsignificant development has been seen so far.<\/p>\n
Toto, who is now a member of the government's special team on
\nimproving trade facilitation, blamed chaotic and poor port
\nmanagement for inefficiencies in Indonesian harbors.<\/p>\n
The chaos, he said, originated from the government's attitude
\nin perceiving ports as a source of revenue for the state budget.<\/p>\n
The attitude has prompted port operators to reap maximum
\nprofits and neglect the development of necessary facilities in
\nthe ports, he said.<\/p>\n
\"In contrast, countries like Malaysia, Thailand and China
\nliterally pour state funds into ports as an investment to boost
\ntrade and attract containers from other countries, including from
\nIndonesia, to stop by,\" Toto said.<\/p>\n
He believed the government should take the same attitude,
\nperceiving ports as an investment instead of a cash cow.<\/p>\n
\"When there is a will, there is a way,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia exports and imports a total of 5.5 million TEUs
\n(twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers annually, with 80
\npercent of them going through Singapore.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, exporters and importers have to pay
\ntransshipment costs that includes unloading containers from
\nvessels, renting space and loading them onto other vessels,
\nbefore finally being shipped to their final destinations, Toto
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The transshipment cost was on average $60 per TEU per year,
\nand such cost does not include cargo piling and other fees, he
\nadded.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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