Government cuts container waiting time at ports<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government decided yesterday to cut the time
\nimporters can store their containers free of charge at the city's
\nTanjung Priok port from six days to three days, effective Aug. 1.<\/p>\n
Speaking after reporting to Vice President Try Sutrisno,
\nMinister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said the time
\nreduction was needed to reduce the port's container pile-up.<\/p>\n
Haryanto said he would issue a new ruling on June 16. But the
\nruling would leave a transition period, until Aug. 1.<\/p>\n
The new ruling would also set base rates for container
\nstacking at the port's terminals, the minister said.<\/p>\n
Consignments stocked at the port for three days will be free
\nof charge, but from the fourth day until the 10th day, a set
\ndaily fee will be charged.<\/p>\n
Containers stacked at the port for more than 10 days will be
\ncharged twice the normal daily fee.<\/p>\n
The new ruling will also require PT Pelindo II, which manages
\nTanjung Priok port, to bear all transportation costs in case it
\nis obliged to remove containers to depots or storage areas
\noutside the port.<\/p>\n
Haryanto yesterday again blamed importers for the container
\npile-up at the port. Currently, the yard occupancy ratio stood at
\n63 percent, down from a critical 97 percent in late April, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said many importers deliberately delayed picking up their
\ncontainers from Tanjung Priok's container yards for as long as
\nsix days because they were only charged a one-day fee.<\/p>\n
With a shorter free-of-charge storage period at the port,
\nimporters would be forced to remove their goods as soon as
\npossible, Haryanto said.<\/p>\n
But importers have been complaining of slow processing of
\ncustoms documents, claiming they had to spent at least four days
\nwith the customs service to clear them.<\/p>\n
Customs redtape<\/p>\n
Anton J. Supit, chairman of the Indonesian Footwear
\nAssociation, said no rational industrial company wanted to have
\ntheir urgently-needed raw materials stay a single hour longer at
\nthe port than necessary.<\/p>\n
"If we clear our goods only after the sixth day after arrival,
\nit's because of prolonged bureaucratic paperwork, not because we
\nwant that," Anton said.<\/p>\n
At a meeting between importers and Minister Haryanto on
\nMonday, an importer said paperwork could be completed within four
\ndays only if all parties, including banks, the port authority,
\nshipping agents and importers, were connected to the customs'
\nelectronic data interchange (EDI).<\/p>\n
Currently, most importers and banks are not linked to the EDI
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
Aggrayni G., a director at shoe manufacturer PT Astra Graphia,
\nsaid at a meeting with Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky
\nAriwibowo last week, that her company subscribed to the EDI
\nsystem but still could not complete all the customs paperwork
\nwithin three days.<\/p>\n
Other importers complained that the arbitrary removal of
\ncontainers to private terminals had complicated the clearance of
\ngoods from customs areas, because importers often had difficulty
\nfinding their containers in the vast yard.<\/p>\n
In addition, the transfer of containers to private depots
\nincurred additional to importers because the private depots
\ncharged higher fees, about Rp 500,000 (US$205) per 40-foot
\ncontainer per day.<\/p>\n
Economist and trade analyst, I Nyoman Moena, was quoted by
\nAntara as saying that cutting the free-of-charge storage days at
\nthe port would create additional problems for importers.<\/p>\n
If it was not followed by quicker processing of paperwork by
\nthe customs office, it would simply impose big additional costs
\non importers.<\/p>\n
To solve the problem, Moena suggested the customs office
\ncombine the abandoned pre-shipment inspection system with the on-
\narrival inspection system to ensure a smoother flow of goods
\nthrough the port.<\/p>\n
He suggested that strategic industrial imports by state
\nagencies and state-owned firms could be inspected at ports of
\nloading, while raw materials and consumer goods imports could be
\ninspected at points of unloading.<\/p>\n
The pre-shipment inspection system had for more than 11 years
\nproved to be an efficient way of ensuring a smooth flow of goods,
\nsaid Moena.<\/p>\n
Indonesia used pre-shipment inspection from mid-1985 to March
\n31, 1997. (rid)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-cuts-container-waiting-time-at-ports-1447893297",
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