ANERA postpones port surcharges

ANERA postpones port surcharges

JAKARTA (JP): The Asia North America Eastbound Rate Agreement
(ANERA) group of shipping lines announced over the weekend that
it will postpone until Oct. 1 its threat to impose congestion
surcharges on users of its services at the Tanjung Priok port.

Chairman of ANERA, James T.Y. Chen, was quoted by Bisnis
Indonesia daily as saying that the suspension was made following
what ANERA members considered improvements in the port's services
and facilities.

ANERA threatened last month to impose a "Jakarta Port
Congestion Surcharge" which required ship users to pay US$100 for
a container measuring 20 feet and $200 for 40 feet and above.

The threat to impose congestion surcharges came after port
users criticized the port's poor management, heavy red tape and
lack of coordination in cargo-handling procedures, all of which
led to a prolonged waiting time of ships and additional financial
losses.

Overseas importers also complained of the poor services and
went as far as threatening to seek alternative ports to ship
their goods to.

Initially, ANERA's congestion surcharge at the port was
planned to be imposed starting on July 15, but the group, which
conducts shipments from Jakarta to the United States, Puerto Rico
and Canada, decided to "wait and see" what the results of the
efficiency program by the port's management company, the state-
owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II, promised.

The efficiency program includes a simplification of
documentation procedures and the construction of infrastructure
facilities, such as berthing docks and shipping cranes.

ANERA consists of the American President Line, Ltd., Hapag-
Lloyd A.G., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line), Ltd., A.P. Moller-
Maersk Line, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., Nedlloyd Linjen B.V.,
Neptune Orient Lines, Ltd., Nippon Yusen Kaisha (N.Y.K.), Orient
Overseas Container Line, Inc. and Sea-Land Service, Inc.

Chen said that other shipping lines grouped in the Intra-Asia
Discussion Agreement forum, which consists of 44 lines serving
the Asia-Pacific region, have also resolved to postpone their
threat to impose congestion surcharges until Nov. 1.

Theft

In spite of the port's improved services, Chen said there have
recently been increased reports of theft of the contents of
containers, to be both imported and exported, and cases of broken
container seals.

He said that although the amount of stolen goods were
relatively small -- occurring to only one to two percent of the
containers' contents -- the issue was a serious blow to importers
and exporters.

Similar cases, which occurred at Guatemala's port, Chen cited,
have lead ANERA to impose container security surcharges.

Tanjung Priok port currently serves 70 percent of the
country's import and export activities.

Over the last five years, the number of conventional and
container vessels using the port has increased by an average of
six percent per annum. Last year, the figure stood at 12,733
units.

Cargo handling also increased by 12 percent over the same
period, with 26.8 million tons recorded last year. (pwn)