Bulog imports disrupting activities at Tanjung Priok

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port is still bogged down with foodstuff imports belonging to the National Logistics Agency (Bulog), which lacks enough warehouse space to store the goods.

A statement issued by Tanjung Priok's central management office said that eight vessels carrying Bulog's imports, mostly rice and sugar, are still anchored offshore.

Antara quoted the port management as saying Wednesday that the eight vessels are carrying 17,850 tons of rice and 71,058 tons of sugar.

According to the statement, the only reason for the delay is the unpreparedness of Bulog and its warehouses. A number of docks are empty and ready to receive the incoming vessels, which have requested permission to berth.

Bulog's imports have been a burden on the port since they started arriving earlier this year. Earlier reports said that Bulog's warehouses are packed with goods owned by a private company.

Henry, a spokesman for state-owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II which manages the port, said yesterday that the delays caused by Bulog could damage the port's credibility and are slowing the port's efforts to improve and speed up its services.

He said that Bulog's vessels were actually given priority to unload because they contain vital foodstuffs.

Currently, seven of Bulog's ships are being unloaded at the port. Three contain 34,688 tons of rice and the other four have 55,125 tons of sugar, he said.

According to port management records, Bulog has, since January this year, unloaded 390,545 tons of imported rice carried by 32 ships, 132,806 tons of sugar carried by 11 ships and 81,028 tons of soybean carried by four vessels.

Bulog's vessels are among the 42 anchored offshore.

From the 42 ships, 10 have broken down and are waiting to be fixed, six are waiting for local agents to unload their cargo, one is waiting for a space at the conventional harbor, two are waiting for a space at the container harbor and one is a military ship waiting for an order.

Two other ships are offshore waiting for their cargo to be loaded, four have been allocated spaces at the dock and are waiting to be berthed at the conventional and container terminals and eight are waiting to be berthed at the harbor of the state oil company Pertamina. (pwn)