{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1768230,
        "msgid": "container-congestion-in-ports-attributed-to-regulatory-confusion-1779888069",
        "date": "2026-05-27 14:11:00",
        "title": "Container Congestion in Ports Attributed to Regulatory Confusion",
        "author": "indrastuti",
        "source": "MEDIA_INDONESIA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Regulation",
        "summary": "Indonesia's import regulatory inconsistencies have triggered severe port congestion and logistical chaos, threatening domestic industries and increasing economic costs. Analysts warn that fluctuating policies, including recent trade ministerial regulations, have led to container backlogs, environmental pollution, and market distortions. Experts urge the government to streamline import procedures while safeguarding local markets.",
        "content": "<p>Confusion over import regulations in Indonesia is said to have\nensnared the national shipping industry in a growing web of\ncomplications. Inconsistent and frequently amended legal regulations,\nincluding Ministry of Trade Regulation (Permendag) No.\u00a036 of 2023,\nPermendag No.\u00a08 of 2024, and the latest umbrella regulation Permendag\nNo.\u00a016 of 2025, have systemically caused logistical paralysis at major\nports while threatening the existence of domestic labour-intensive\nindustries. Analyst and Master of Law student at Jakarta\u2019s 17 August\n1945 University (Untag), Revitriyoso Husodo, stated that these\nfluctuating regulations create legal uncertainty for businesses and\nhinder the national shipping sector\u2019s industrialisation agenda.\n\u2018Industrialisation refers to adding value across all industries,\nincluding shipping, to boost national foreign exchange earnings,\u2019\nRevitriyoso said in a statement on Wednesday (27 May 2026). Revitriyoso\nnoted that regulatory confusion previously caused a backlog of 26,000\ncontainers at Tanjung Priok and Tanjung Perak ports in May 2024 due to\nstringent import documentation requirements. This logistics crisis\npushed the Yard Occupancy Ratio (YOR) close to or above the safe limit\nof 90%, rendering port operations inflexible for new cargo. \u2018Operational\nimpacts include prolonged waiting times (dwelling time) leading to\nhigher demurrage costs, as well as reduced terminal productivity due to\nlimited space for heavy equipment like Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) cranes,\nslowing down loading and unloading speeds,\u2019 he explained. On a\nmacroeconomic scale, the soaring logistics costs force businesses to\nburn more fuel due to prolonged ship waiting times, incur demurrage\npenalties, and resort to rerouting cargo to distant alternative ports,\nincreasing land transportation expenses. Beyond harming the real sector,\ncontainer truck queues clogging port access roads have caused traffic\njams on Jakarta\u2019s tollways. \u2018Air pollution has worsened due to hundreds\nof trucks idling with engines running, degrading air quality around the\nport area,\u2019 he added. Revitriyoso outlined that the root issue stems\nfrom Permendag No.\u00a036 of 2023, which shifted oversight from post-border\nto border control and mandated additional documents like Technical\nConsiderations (Pertek) and Surveyor Reports (LS) under Articles 20, 21,\nand 24. This regulation was deemed overly restrictive on goods entering\nthe country. The government responded with Permendag No.\u00a08 of 2024,\nrelaxing rules by removing the Pertek requirement from the Ministry of\nIndustry. However, this policy was seen as overly lenient, allowing all\ndelayed imports\u2014such as iron, steel, textiles, and electronics\u2014to leave\nports with only an LS document. The result was a flood of imported\nfinished goods in the domestic market, triggering local industry\nbankruptcies and mass layoffs. The situation worsened with the\nintroduction of Permendag No.\u00a016 of 2025 as the latest umbrella\nregulation. The deregulation of restrictions and limitations (Lartas)\nunder Article 93 drew sharp criticism, including from the Indonesian\nSugar Cane Farmers Association (APTRI). \u2018The removal of import approval\ninstruments for derivative commodities has rendered commodity balances\nand Ministry of Industry recommendations obsolete. Consequently, import\nquota oversight is lost, leading to an influx of cheap raw material\nimports and leaving hundreds of thousands of tons of local sugar and\nmolasses unsold,\u2019 Revitriyoso explained. Another legal loophole was\nfound in Article 8, which relaxed the transfer of General Importer\nIdentification Number (API-U) to Producer Importer Identification Number\n(API-P). House of Representatives Commission VI deemed this regulation\nvulnerable to abuse by rogue importers, who could import finished\nconsumer goods under the guise of production materials and sell them\nfreely in the domestic market. Amidst the erosion of foreign goods\nprotections, Permendag 16 of 2025 has imposed stringent tiered\nenforcement and penalties on domestic businesses deemed unprepared for\nthe new digital cluster system. Sanctions include unilateral cargo holds\nby Customs, total import permit freezes, and recommendations to revoke\nBusiness Identity Numbers (NIB) for reporting errors within post-border\nsurveillance deadlines. To break this regulatory quagmire, Revitriyoso\nurged the government to streamline import bureaucracy precisely without\ncompromising domestic market protection. \u2018Overlapping regulations must\nbe resolved to ensure the shipping sector functions optimally.\nImprovements to the Online Single Submission (OSS) and INATRADE\nplatforms are needed as procedures for national business import\npermits,\u2019 he concluded. This operational growth aligns with positive\nnational trade trends. Total throughput reached 850,768 TEUs, a 0.9%\nincrease from the same period last year\u2019s 843,187 TEUs. The rise in\ncontainer volume was driven by significant growth in key operational\nareas, spurred by new regular and ad-hoc services enhancing trade\nconnectivity.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/container-congestion-in-ports-attributed-to-regulatory-confusion-1779888069",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}