Congestion at harbors
Congestion at harbors
As an aftermath of the Kobe quake, the impact is felt keenly in Indonesia, thousands of kilometers away. My writing concerning SGS was published in The Jakarta Post on Feb. 7, 1995.
As I foresaw, the result is congestion at Indonesia's main ports, especially Jakarta and Surabaya, where it has been reported that 70 or 80 ships are waiting outside the harbors to unload their cargoes.
Although the Indonesian authorities have taken the necessary steps to expedite and facilitate the clearance of goods, we do not know when things will get back to normal, taking into consideration that the Yokohama office of SGS has not yet been able to take over the function of its Kobe office.
We are told by our Tokyo office that the computerized records at Kobe head office have been completely destroyed and it will not be possible to 'recover' what has been recorded in the 10 years' since its establishment.
According to the local daily Kompas, Feb. 25, 1995, some of the steps taken by harbor authorities to expedite and facilitate the clearance of cargo are:
* Office hours have been extended to 24 hours per day, naturally by means of two shifts.
* Government cargo, raw material for factories and especially goods categorized in the 'white list' (which need only a banking guarantee for payment of customs duty) can be cleared instantly.
This congestion in the harbors of Jakarta and Surabaya has greatly burdened shipping companies and importers. For example, the 'wharfage' of one vessel, weighing 5,000 DWT (dead weight tons) is US$5,000 a day, or about Rp 10 million a day. Hence, a delay of clearance of the goods lasting four days means a loss of Rp 20 - 25 million, not to mention the cost for the crew of the vessel.
Therefore, if there is an order for unloading cargo at Tanjung Priok, shipping companies are clearly not enthusiastic to receive such cargo. Consequently owners of cargo should reserve an extra amount to cover any anticipated demurrage.
At this stage, it is appropriate to express our appreciation of the efforts taken by SGS-Jakarta, by working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to overcome the sudden accumulation of work.
A. DJUANA
Jakarta