Foreign shipping companies protested for charging high fees<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Indonesian National Shipping Council (INSC) urged the
\ngovernment to take stern action against foreign shipping
\ncompanies which had unilaterally imposed extra fees on local
\nfreight forwarders and exporters.<\/p>\n
The appeal was made during a meeting with the House commission
\nfor transportation and infrastructure on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
INSC chairman Suardi Zein said the council wanted the extra
\nfees, technically called terminal handling charges (THCs), to be
\nlowered or completely dropped because it was creating a high-cost
\neconomy.<\/p>\n
"Currently, local freight forwarders and export-oriented
\ncompanies have to shoulder the burden of such a high-cost economy
\nat the port. The THCs have undermined the competitiveness of our
\nproducts aboard," Suardi told legislators.<\/p>\n
He further explained that, in addition to freight tariffs
\nwhich reached US$93 per 20-foot container, foreign ships had
\nforced exporters to pay an additional $150 in THC per 20-foot
\ncontainer, making Indonesian port expenses the costliest in the
\nAsia-Pacific.<\/p>\n
INSC said that foreign shipping liners argued that high THCs
\nwere needed to cover the expensive stevedoring cost at local
\nports. However, INSC had discovered that they were exaggerating
\nthe THCs, as stevedoring only cost about $93 per 20-foot
\ncontainer, which should be included in the freight cost.<\/p>\n
Suardi said local companies had no choice but to use foreign-
\nowned ships, as local shipping companies only accounted for a
\nmere 5.4 percent of the shipment of goods, both import and
\nexport.<\/p>\n
Foreign-owned ships, on the other hand, transported the
\nremaining 94.6 percent of goods, which reached 350 million tons
\nannually.<\/p>\n
"Foreign-owned ships have been acting like a cartel. They have
\nunilaterally imposed additional tariffs, as they know that
\nIndonesian exporters have no other choice but to use their
\nservices," said Suardi.<\/p>\n
On the sidelines of the meeting, executive member of INSC Toto
\nDirgantoro said the council had long complained about the
\nproblem, but the government had been slow in resolving the matter
\nso far.<\/p>\n
Toto said that if there was no show of goodwill from the
\ngovernment, the council would bring the matter to the World Trade
\nOrganization (WTO) to be settled.<\/p>\n
"We have been fighting for the rejection of the THCs since
\n1996, but there has been no progress at all. We are expecting the
\nmatter to be resolved at the WTO," said Toto.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, INSC also called for the elimination of
\nillegal fees at local ports, which was also hurting the
\ncompetitiveness of the country's business sector.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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