Port infrastructure deficiencies must be quickly addressed before cabotage, a revision to cargo shipping procedures, is implemented. Congestion continues to mar Tanjung Priok Port, Indonesia's largest international trade port, in northeast Jakarta. The port's yard occupancy ratio (YOR) reached 100 percent last week. The cause of the congestion appears to be an imbalance between the flow of imported containers and the pace at which those containers are delivered to their final destinations.

The extent to which Indonesia is going to be affected by a U.S.-led global economic downturn remains uncertain and difficult to forecast, a discussion among top economists showed in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Despite unresolved permit problems, PT Dairi Prima Mineral, a local unit of Australian-based zinc and lead producer Herald Resources, said Tuesday it planned to spend US$180 million for initial exploration activities at its North Sumatra mine. Dairi office manager Junjungan Harahap told The Jakarta Post the company had so far spent $50 million to develop infrastructure and road access.

Rendi Akhmad Witular and Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday instructed state oil and gas company Pertamina to prepare to take over the development of the gas-rich Natuna block from U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil Corp.

The rigidity of the 2003 Labor Act, particularly its severance provisions, has forced entrepreneurs to use outsourcing, a panelist told a seminar on Tuesday. Chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Sofjan Wanandi said the hefty severance payments stipulated by the law burdened employers, making them turn to outsourcing.

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Bali appears to have remained a main destination for Australians as the number of Australian tourists visiting Bali is only second to that of Japanese tourists, a local statistical official said. Some 204,473 Australian tourists were among a total of 1,666,079 foreign tourists who visited Bali in 2007, the head of the local statistical bureau, Ida Komang Wisnu, said on Tuesday.