Bulog imports disrupting activities at Tanjung Priok

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)