Panjang port harbors ambitious long term goals<\/p>\n
By Prasetyo Subekti<\/p>\n
PANJANG, Lampung (JP): Work is going at full steam in this
\ntiny port at the southern tip of Sumatra.<\/p>\n
The workers have a 1997 deadline to beat for the completion of
\nthe first phase of Panjang Port's expansion project.<\/p>\n
PT Pelabuhan II, the government company which administers the
\nPanjang harbor as well as a host of other ports in southwestern
\nIndonesia, including Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, has set an
\nambitious target for Panjang.<\/p>\n
By the time the entire project is completed in the year 2002,
\nPanjang could become an alternative container port to the already
\ncongested Tanjung Priok.<\/p>\n
\"This is the first step towards a fully containerized port,\"
\nPanjang Port's chief, Prayitno, said while explaining about the
\nwork currently in progress.<\/p>\n
Panjang is a port city which was built by the Dutch colonial
\nadministration in the 17th century. Today it is one of the main
\ncargo ports in the southern part of Sumatra, catering mainly to
\ninter-island freighters. It also began handling ocean-going
\nliners in 1981, but can accommodate only a few at a time.<\/p>\n
Yet, because of their limited capacities, the ports of
\nPanjang, Palembang in South Sumatra, Jambi, and Teluk Bayur in
\nWest Sumatra, could not take all the cargo bound for the region.<\/p>\n
Instead, many freighters still unload their cargo at Tanjung
\nPriok and have it transported by road to various destinations in
\nthe southern and central part of Sumatra.<\/p>\n
All this is changing.<\/p>\n
Of all the four main ports in the region, Panjang has the best
\nchance for expansion given its natural setting. The ports of
\nPalembang and Jambi are too shallow for further expansion. The
\nwaters around Teluk Bayur, which faces the Indian Ocean, are too
\nrough for the purpose.<\/p>\n
Panjang is located in quiet waters in a bay facing the Sunda
\nStrait. Currently occupying 105 hectares, the port has earmarked
\nanother 70.16 hectares adjacent for the current development.<\/p>\n
The bay itself embraces 3,953,490 hectares of water area,
\nmaking it ideal for the expansion of the port.<\/p>\n
Prayitno said the port authorities have planned the
\nimplementation of the expansion project in two phases, the first
\nrunning between 1993 and 1997, and the second between 1998 and
\n2002.<\/p>\n
First phase<\/p>\n
When the expansion is completed, the port should be a major
\ninternational sea gate for imports as well as exports, and will
\nsurely ease the burden of the Tanjung Priok port.<\/p>\n
\"It will become an alternative port for Tanjung Priok.
\nInternational and inter-island freighters can use this port,\"
\nPrayitno said.<\/p>\n
Industries and plantations in the southern part of Sumatra
\nwill be the main beneficiaries of the expansion.<\/p>\n
\"They will no longer have to pick up their imported raw
\nmaterials from Tanjung Priok,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Under the first phase of the construction, the container
\nfreight station will be enlarged from six hectares at present to
\n15 hectares. And a new 45 ton-capacity gantry crane to dispatch
\ncontainers will be installed in the 300-meter shipyard.<\/p>\n
The authorities plan to bring in new heavy equipment such as
\nlift-off and lift-on transtainer crane.<\/p>\n
The container port's estuary will be widened to 225 meters.<\/p>\n
A new 200-meter dry bulk port also will be developed on a nine
\nhectares of land, in cooperation with private companies. The bulk
\nport will be equipped with a conveyor and silo that have the
\ncapacity to move 500 tons of goods per hour.<\/p>\n
In addition, the authorities will also upgrade and expand the
\nconventional ship dock measuring 1,026 meters in total.<\/p>\n
The second phase of the development will focus on
\ncontainerization. For this purpose the Terminal C, which is
\ncurrently 140 meters in area, will be enlarged to 400 meters.<\/p>\n
A number of new docks also will be built on an islet situated
\nat the mouth of the estuary of Padang Bay.<\/p>\n
The plan includes the construction of new dry and liquid bulk
\nports.<\/p>\n
The Lampung provincial government sees the Panjang Port
\nexpansion as a matter of pride.<\/p>\n
The province's economy is growing so rapidly that industries
\nand traders cannot rely on the congested Tanjung Priok to serve
\ntheir shipping needs.<\/p>\n
Lampung is one of the major coffee producers in Indonesia. It
\nalso boasts other crops such as rubber, coconut, cassava, pepper
\nand soybeans.<\/p>\n
Industries<\/p>\n
Many industries have been relocating to Lampung because they
\nare being pushed out of the greater Jakarta area by soaring land
\nprices.<\/p>\n
The presence of an international-standard harbor in the area
\nis expected to boost the pace of industrialization and economic
\ngrowth in the province even further.<\/p>\n
In business terms, the port authorities estimate that at
\npresent about two-thirds of the cargoes bound for the southern
\nSumatra provinces are still going through Tanjung Priok.<\/p>\n
All of these are expected to go through Panjang as of 2002,
\nonce the major expansion program is completed.<\/p>\n
The port has gained some experience in handling large vessels
\nsince 1981, when the authorities decided to designate Panjang
\nsolely for cargo vessels and to move the ferry port, for crossing
\nto Java, to Bakaheuni.<\/p>\n
Last year, Panjang handled 653 ocean-going vessels with a
\ncombined gross tonnage of 7.9 million and 2,026 inter-island
\nvessels with a combined gross tonnage of 13.3 million.<\/p>\n
It handled 30,753 tons of imported cargo and 119,892 tons of
\nexports in 1993 and a total of 542,340 tons of inter-island cargo
\nshipments. Panjang's container unit handled a total of 39,876 ton
\nequivalent units and 330,870 tons last year.<\/p>\n
Many private and state companies have already opened special
\ndocks in Panjang.<\/p>\n
The state-owned oil company Pertamina, for example, uses three
\njetty ports for oil discharge and has five terminal tankers here.<\/p>\n
The state-owned plantation company, Perkebunan X, also uses a
\njetty port to discharge crude palm oil and it owns two tankers
\nclose to the port. There is also a special dock and two tankers
\nhired by a private company to discharge asphalt.<\/p>\n
Other regular port users include PT Andatu which exports wood
\npanels and the state-owned coal company PT Tambang Batubara which
\nsends its coal from the Bukitasam mines in southern Sumatra to
\nthe Suralaya coal-fired power plant in West Java and to overseas
\nmarkets.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/panjang-port-harbors-ambitious-long-term-goals-1447899208",
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