JICT plans international-standard seaport<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An official from the Jakarta International Container Terminal
\n(JICT), Indonesia's largest container terminal company, said it
\nwould spend around US$70 million this year to upgrade facilities
\nin a drive to become the first fully international-standard
\nseaport hub in the country.<\/p>\n
JICT president W.S. Wirjan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday
\nthat upgrading the facilities was needed to enhance its direct
\ncall shipment service, thus allowing more large ships to load and
\nunload containers at its port.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the sidelines of a hearing session with the House
\nof Representatives Commission IV for transportation and
\nCommunications, Wirjan said that by 2004, JICT's quay facility
\nwould reach a span of 2.5 kilometers with 20 cranes operating and
\n100 hectares of storage space.<\/p>\n
He added that it would enable the terminal to enhance its
\ninstalled container capacity to 3 million twenty-feet equivalent
\nunits (TEUs) from the current 2.3 million TEUs.<\/p>\n
However, Wirjawan refused to disclose when the company could
\nstart serving the larger international container ships.<\/p>\n
JICT, formerly state-owned, is a newly privatized firm in
\nwhich 51 percent of its share is owned by Hong Kong-based
\nHutchison Port Holding Group and 48.9 percent by the state-owned
\nseaport company PT Pelindo II.<\/p>\n
Wirjawan said JICT was expected to be able to increase its
\ndirect call shipment service from 40 moves\/ship\/hour to around 80
\nmoves\/ship\/hour by the end of this year. This will speed up the
\ncontainer loading process into a "mother ship".<\/p>\n
JICT will connect its quay facility with Koja Container
\ncompany in November this year so it can be expanded.<\/p>\n
Koja is 52 percent owned by Pelindo II and 48 percent by PT
\nOcean Terminal Petikemas.<\/p>\n
Turning JICT into an full-service international seaport will
\nhelp Indonesian exporters save time and money as cargo can be
\nshipped from the port directly to overseas destinations without
\nhaving to make a stop over in Singapore or Malaysian ports.<\/p>\n
Currently, Indonesian ports have a limited capacity to
\naccommodate the larger ships.<\/p>\n
Thus, most of the ports only serve as a feeder for a bigger
\nships standing by in Singapore and Malaysia ports.<\/p>\n
According to JICT, at least 75 percent of the country's
\ncontainer cargo had to first stopover in one those two countries.
\nA study made by the government estimated that each year domestic
\nexporters were losing around Rp 6.3 trillion (US$715 million) for
\nthe double-handling costs in Singapore and Malaysia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jict-plans-international-standard-seaport-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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