1,400 tons of CPO from Deli Tama tanks to be tendered

1,400 tons of CPO from Deli Tama tanks to be tendered

JAKARTA (JP): PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia has announced it
will soon tender 1,400 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) with a
hydrocarbon content of between 54 ppm (parts per million) and 221
ppm currently kept at Deli Tama Indonesia storage tanks.

The Deli Tama Indonesia storage tanks at the North Sumatra
port of Belawan were the source of 85,000 metric tons of diesel
oil-contaminated CPO which was rejected in Rotterdam in October
and November and triggered an almost total ban on Indonesian CPO
in Europe.

A copy of the tender notice, which was obtained by The Jakarta
Post on Monday, showed that London Sumatra kept the CPO stocks at
three Deli Tama Indonesia tanks, at No's 8, 10 and 61.

Traders and cooking oil companies in Medan were surprised by
the tender notice because to their knowledge Deli Tama Indonesia
tanks were still being cleaned up and CPO from those tanks had
temporarily been prohibited from being sold domestically or
overseas.

PP London Sumatra itself admitted in the notice that
laboratory tests at Technichem in Singapore concluded that 523
tons of the CPO to be sold had a 54 ppm (parts per million)
hydrocarbon content, 221 tons with 221 ppm and 710 tons with 65
ppm.

A trader in Medan confirmed that London Sumatra planned to
soon tender another 6,000 tons of CPO, also from the Deli Tama
Indonesia storage tanks.

Deli Tama Indonesia's director Megananda Daryono confirmed at
a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission V for
trade and industry in Jakarta last week that his company's
storage tanks were the main source of the contaminated CPO which
was held up at the Rotterdam port.

Megananda added, however, that the tanks were being cleaned up
and a certification of cleanliness would be sought from PT
Sucofindo surveyor company before they would be used again to
hold CPO.

Angered by the government's virtual inaction in handling the
CPO debacle caused by the contamination at Deli Tama Indonesia
tanks, the House Commission V decided last week to form its own
fact-finding team to investigate how such a large volume of CPO
could have been contaminated with diesel oil.

The Deli Tama Indonesia tanks, owned by the state-owned PTPN
III plantation company, are the largest storage facilities at
Belawan with a total capacity of about 115,000 tons.