Market still dominated by foreign players<\/p>\n
When H. Johari Zein, chief executive officer of PT Tiki Jalur
\nNugraha Ekakurir (Tiki JNE), started his moving and relocation
\ncompany, one of his first orders was moving the household
\nbelongings of a military general.<\/p>\n
The distance was not too long as he moved from Kuningan to
\nCilodong area, both within Jakarta. One of the valuable pieces in
\nthe assignment was a huge arwana fish, the general's favorite
\npet. Johari was aware that moving the fish was no ordinary job as
\neven the slightest mishandling could result in the death of the
\nexpensive animal.<\/p>\n
\"So, after placing the fish in a specially prepared water
\ncontainer, instead of using the delivery trucks, I moved the fish
\nto the owner's new home in my very own sedan,\" Johari recalled
\none of the numerous unique assignments his company had handled.<\/p>\n
For five years now Tiki JNE has been providing moving services
\nto its mostly foreign customers. Previously the business was
\nhandled by a special division of its affiliate company, Titipan
\nKilat, and starting in 2000, after receiving a special freight
\nforwarding license that allowed the company to handle
\nconsignments weighing over 30 kilograms, Tiki JNE took care of
\nmajor orders for moving and relocation.<\/p>\n
According to Johari -- born in Medan on April 16, 1954 --
\nmoving and relocation has become an integral part of services
\noffered by many growing courier companies. \"Some local companies
\neven specialize in such services inspired by the influx of
\nforeign players in this field,\" said the man who is also the
\nchairman of the Indonesian Express Delivery Companies Association
\n(Asperindo).<\/p>\n
Below is an excerpt of an interview with The Jakarta Post
\nwhere Johari expressed the future prospects and the prerequisites
\nto develop this particular business further.<\/p>\n
Q: How many Asperindo members are there right now?
\nA: I can easily remember the Jakarta number, which is 106
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
Does each one of them provide moving and relocation services?
\n No, not all. Our members are divided into three types of
\noperational zones. The first one operates internationally. These
\nare the ones that include moving and relocation services in their
\nportfolio. They often assist foreign experts moving into and out
\nof the country. The second specializes in domestic operations.
\nMany in this type have the required transportation facilities and
\nequipment for such services, including house, office or factory
\nmoving. The third type, currently quite large in number and
\nrapidly growing, is the city courier, who handle items like
\ninvitations, letters, bank accounts, credit cards and the like.
\nDespite their huge number, most of them do not cater to moving or
\nrelocation services. Well, you see, moving and relocation are
\nonly part of the entire range of services that a courier or
\ndelivery company can provide for its customers.<\/p>\n
Are there local companies in Indonesia now that specialize only
\nin the moving business?<\/p>\n
Well, just a couple. They were inspired by major foreign
\nplayers in this field, such as Global, Crown Pacific and so on.
\nThese companies opened up their branches in Indonesia because
\ntheir clients in the home country started their businesses here,
\nso, naturally, they also have to serve them locally. Like in any
\nbusiness, apart from quality, trust, based on years of a
\nrelationship also plays an important part.<\/p>\n
How large is the domestic market?
\nDue to the low awareness of the locals in the availability of
\nsuch services, the domestic market has not grown very much. Our
\npeople are quite different from expatriates who would not go
\nthrough the hassle of moving. For them it's just a telephone call
\naway and a moving company with all its experience and expertise
\nwill take care of everything, from packing and rearranging down
\nto cleaning up the new place for immediate use. I must say that
\nmost of our people are not that aware regarding such complete
\nmoving services, except for a handful who have lived abroad
\neither for their work or education.<\/p>\n
How would you roughly categorize the market?
\nThere are individuals wishing to move their houses and
\nbusinessmen who want to move their employee's residence or their
\noffices. Finally, there are also companies that intend to move
\ntheir factories to another location within the country or even to
\nanother country. They are mostly foreign or multinational
\ncorporations, who, due to their world renowned names, always rely
\non the leading and most experienced moving companies. So, clearly
\nthis market almost entirely belongs to the major moving
\ncompanies. Admittedly, the local players with comparatively
\ninsufficient experience are not the preferred choice in handling
\nthese giant-sized assignments, like moving the whole factory and
\nits entire office complex. But in the smaller area, house moving
\nthat is, the number of local companies with quality services is
\nrapidly growing.<\/p>\n
How do you envision the prospect of this business in the future?
\nI would say it very much depends on the growth of our economy,
\nwhich I'm quite certain will improve in the not-too-distant
\nfuture. A healthy economy will automatically induce a healthy
\nmobility in the society. Hence, the need for the services
\nprovided by the related companies will naturally grow and so will
\nthe appreciation towards the companies themselves. I'm optimistic
\nthat opportunities for growth in this business are abundant. We,
\nin the association, greatly support our members and motivate them
\nto enhance their skills and knowledge as well as gain experience
\nat various occasions. Just look at the size of our country, it is
\nso huge and it is geographically unique, add to it the newly
\nintroduced element of regional autonomy, all of which create
\nlimitless potential for this kind of business.<\/p>\n
What are the superior features of local companies in comparison
\nto foreign ones?<\/p>\n
Moving is not always to big cities, like Jakarta. In moving to
\nproject sites in the regions or in remote areas, I think, local
\ncompanies surpass their foreign counterparts, which, in my
\nopinion, are not so accustomed to that type of assignment. In
\nthis sector certain local players excel in their services.<\/p>\n
What would you suggest to further develop this business?<\/p>\n
With the kind of geography we have, even a local company should
\nhave a widespread network, meaning branches in major cities or at
\nleast in the capital cities of every province so that it can
\ntruly provide moving and relocation services to every area in the
\ncountry. Serving just a couple of big cities, say like Jakarta,
\nBandung and the like would not be sufficient. Local companies
\nmust also consider providing services outside Indonesia to cater
\nto foreign corporations and expatriates, hence they must
\nestablish some kind of cooperation or network with agents in
\nforeign countries. Human resources is another vital element. We
\nmust have expert staff who are able to, among other things,
\nconduct reliable surveys and can measure as well as detect the
\nlevel of difficulty of each and every moving assignment and of
\ncourse, can provide the relevant solutions. -- Ari Darmawan<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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