Government takes over Humpuss's container terminal operator<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed transportation company PT
\nHumpuss Intermoda Transportasi (HIT) confirmed on Tuesday its
\ncontainer terminal operator at Tanjung Priok port had been taken
\nover by the government following failure to pay its debts.<\/p>\n
PT Humpuss Terminal Petikemas, which operates the Koja
\ncontainer terminal, has been under the control of the Asset
\nManagement Unit of the Indonesia Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA)
\nsince April 12 this year, the company said in its annual report.<\/p>\n
HIT said the government's move to take over Humpuss Terminal
\nwas made after it defaulted on a loan payment to a syndication of
\nbanks led by the state Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).<\/p>\n
According to the report, Humpuss Terminal, jointly owned by
\nHIT and the state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, owed the
\nbank syndication US$82 million and Rp 79.3 billion.<\/p>\n
\"What is likely to happen is that BPPN could sell Humpuss
\nTerminal's assets to the third party to recover the unpaid loan,\"
\nthe company said.<\/p>\n
HIT is 85.55 percent owned by the Humpuss Group with the
\nremaining shares owned by the investing public. The Humpuss Group
\nis 60 percent owned by former president Soeharto's son Hutomo
\nMandala Putra, also known as Tommy, and 40 percent by his elder
\nbrother Sigit Hardjojudanto.<\/p>\n
Tommy is tipped as one of the country's 20 largest debtors at
\nstate banks, which recently had bad debts worth about Rp 100
\ntrillion (US$12.8 billion) transferred to IBRA.<\/p>\n
The Koja container terminal, which was inaugurated by former
\npresident Soeharto in February 1998, has a container stacking
\ncapacity of 600,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum.
\nHTP is currently adding facilities at the port to increase its
\ncapacity of up to 700,000 TEUs.<\/p>\n
Both Humpuss Terminal and HIT are currently asking for an
\nextension of its loan's grace period to 2001 and permission to
\ndelay some of the loan interest payment.<\/p>\n
Humpuss Terminal's president Onky P. Suwarno said the monetary
\ncrisis had had a heavy impact on the Koja terminal's
\nperformance.<\/p>\n
Only 287,681 TEUs of its container stacking capacity were used
\nlast year, compared to a targeted 525,952 TEUs, Onky said after
\nthe company's shareholders meeting.<\/p>\n
Humpuss Terminal contributed only 2 percent of HIT's revenue
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
HIT's new president Budhi Halim announced a 200 percent
\nincrease in net profit to Rp 74.9 billion in 1998 compared to Rp
\n25 billion in 1997.<\/p>\n
But HIT booked a sharp increase in its total revenues to Rp
\n695 billion last year from Rp 279 billion in 1997 due largely to
\nthe sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n
The company operates in transporting fuel, liquefied natural
\ngas (LNG), methanol, and port service.<\/p>\n
\"HIT has demonstrated its good performance amid the economic
\nhardship in 1997 and political turmoil in 1998,\" Budhi told
\njournalists following the company's annual shareholders meeting.<\/p>\n
Company shareholders agreed to pay a dividend of Rp 50 per
\nshare, accounting for about 30 percent of the company's net
\nprofit.<\/p>\n
Thus far, HIT has a fleet of 12 tankers chartered to state oil
\nand gas company Pertamina. The fleet contributed 70 percent of
\ncompany revenue.<\/p>\n
Budhi admitted the company's heavy dependency on Pertamina but
\nsaid it is seeking to reduce that by diversifying its business
\ninto other sectors.<\/p>\n
Budhi, however, denied the allegation that the company
\nmonopolized the transportation of Pertamina's LNG and fuel,
\npointing out that its tankers only carry 12 percent of
\nPertamina's fuel and 18 percent of the company's LNG. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-takes-over-humpusss-container-terminal-operator-1447893297",
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