Arpeni sees smooth sailing for years to come<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Armed with a recently issued presidential instruction forbidding
\nforeign vessels to transport cargo domestically in Indonesian
\nwaters, local shipping giant Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line has
\nordered eight more ships to anticipate a rapid growth in the sea
\nfreight sector.<\/p>\n
\"If the presidential instruction is enforced properly, we will
\nhave to rapidly expand our fleet,\" said Oentoro Surya, the
\nfounder and president director of Arpeni.<\/p>\n
The company's net income skyrocketed from Rp 22 billion
\n(US$2.31 million) in 2003 to Rp 77.3 billion in 2004 and it has
\nadded seven more ships to its fleet in the first three months of
\nthis year.<\/p>\n
The government issued Presidential Instruction No. 5\/2005 in
\nlate March in a bid to rejuvenate the stagnant domestic shipping
\nindustry by enforcing the \"cabotage principle\" on domestic
\nshipping routes, long dominated by foreign-flagged vessels.<\/p>\n
Indonesia abandoned the strict application of cabotage, the
\nrequirement that domestic loads be shipped by domestic vessels,
\nduring the 1980s.<\/p>\n
The abandonment has led to the current state where 47 percent
\nof domestic cargoes and 96.6 percent of export-import cargoes are
\nshipped by foreign vessels.<\/p>\n
Oentoro said Arpeni, Indonesia's largest domestic transporter
\nof coal, had moved quickly to take advantage of the opportunities
\noffered by the new regulation.<\/p>\n
With its 31 ships and almost 800 sailors, the company has a
\ncapacity to freight 580,000 tons and wants to expand it to
\n800,000 tons within a year to keep in line with last year's
\nrevenue growth of 51 percent -- from Rp 559.8 billion in 2003 to
\nRp 845 billion in 2004.<\/p>\n
Oentoro, who is also the Indonesian National Shipowners
\nAssociation (INSA) chairman, projected the domestic industry's
\nshare of overseas freight activities would increase from the
\ncurrent 3.4 percent to 20 percent by 2010 due to the new
\nregulation.<\/p>\n
He said in line with that, Arpeni was poised to grab a
\nsignificant chunk of the export-import shipping business in
\nIndonesia, which was valued at US$11.3 billion last year.<\/p>\n
Oentoro said the INSA anticipated that the introduction of the
\nregulation alone would lead to a 30 percent increase in the
\ndomestic market share for Indonesian vessels this year.<\/p>\n
He added that Arpeni, which was founded in 1975, was aiming
\nfor an initial public offering of 30 percent of its shares later
\nthis year. Earlier in 2003, the company issued five-year bonds
\nworth Rp 171 billion. (002)<\/p>",
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