Importers complain of uncertainty at port<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Importers yesterday complained about increased
\ncosts and uncertainty at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port following a
\ncritical container pile-up there since late April.<\/p>\n
They complained, at a meeting with Minister of Transportations
\nHaryanto Dhanutirto, that their containers were often moved
\narbitrarily by customs and port officials to private storage
\ndepots, resulting in high additional costs.<\/p>\n
\"Well, it's not only a problem of increasing costs, but of
\nresponsibility. Where's Pelindo's responsibility?\" said importer
\nA. Syarif, referring to PT Pelindo II which manages the port.<\/p>\n
Since late April, when the yard occupancy rate at Tanjung
\nPriok port reached a critical 97 percent, the authorities have
\nbeen removing many containers a day to private depots to reduce
\nthe pile-up.<\/p>\n
\"The problem, though, is that importers are required to pay
\nmore than Rp 500,000 (US$205) per 20-foot equivalent (TEU) per
\nday,\" Syarif said.<\/p>\n
On top of that, importers also have to bear the trucking costs
\nfrom Tanjung Priok to the private terminals.<\/p>\n
Syarif said that if goods for some reason had to be
\ntransferred elsewhere within six days after unloading, the cost
\nof the transfer and the private depot's storage fee should be
\nPelindo's responsibility.<\/p>\n
Another importer, Budiman, said the arbitrary transfer of
\ncontainers from the port's customs area to private terminals
\noften made it extremely difficult for importers to find their
\nconsignments.<\/p>\n
Often importers could not clear their goods from the port,
\nalthough they had secured clearance orders from the customs
\noffice, because the port's officials could not find their
\ncontainers, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Once, we found the wanted containers in Tanjung Priok's
\ncontainer yard. But we could not take them out simply because the
\nport authority had issued an order to transfer them to a private
\nterminal,\" Budiman said.<\/p>\n
Haryanto said in response, that the government should expedite
\nthe movement of containers from Tanjung Priok to private
\nterminals to avoid congestion.<\/p>\n
\"But we also urge the customs service to reduce the amount of
\nimports going through the red lane (subject to physical
\ninspection) to a maximum 10 percent,\" he said.<\/p>\n
But Haryanto also blamed importers for the container pile-up.
\nHe said importers often deliberately delayed picking up their
\ncontainers from Tanjung Priok's container yards because they did
\nnot have to pay storage fees for the first six days after
\nunloading.<\/p>\n
Citing data from Pelindo II, Haryanto said that in May, 60,000
\nTEUs were unloaded. Fifty-eight thousand TEUs were cleared by
\nthe customs office but only 32,000 were picked up by their
\nimporters.<\/p>\n
Most goods were picked up by their owners on the sixth day
\nafter unloading, the minister said.<\/p>\n
He said the government was considering cutting the length of
\ntime importers could store their consignments free of charge at
\nthe port from six days to four days.<\/p>\n
But importers said yesterday they would not be able to
\ncomplete processing all the documents for the clearance of their
\nimports within four days.<\/p>\n
\"We might be able pick up goods within four days as stated by
\nMinister Haryanto if all parties were connected by the electronic
\ndata interchange,\" Mudrik, an importer, said. (rid)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/importers-complain-of-uncertainty-at-port-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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