Container terminal 'no longer in crisis'

Container terminal 'no longer in crisis'

JAKARTA (JP): The pile up of containers at Tanjung Priok port
due to the slow processing of customs documents eased after many
were transferred to private container terminals, Minister of
Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said.

The minister said the flow of containers through the port was
improving. "The congestion is no longer serious," he said
Thursday after inspecting the container flow at the port, about
10 kilometers north of here.

He said a 15 percent increase in the flow of goods through the
port had contributed to the pile up.

The port authority said the port's container terminal unit one
occupancy rate reached 85 percent on April 20 and increased to 97
percent on April 24 before declining to 84.8 percent on April 26
and 74.89 percent on April 30.

In container terminal unit two, the number of waiting
containers also reached serious proportions on April 20, with an
occupancy rate of 89 percent. It dropped to 82.68 percent the
following day and 55.45 percent on April 30.

"During the crisis containers were stacked five high. It only
dropped to three or four levels after some were transferred to
private terminal units outside the port," said Harmani, the
commercial director of state-owned Pelabuhan Indonesia II,
reported Antara.

He said that although containers had not piled up again in six
days, the port authorities and customs office had decided to
transfer them to private container terminal units to avoid
congestion.

Regulation states that imported containers are allowed to stay
up to six days in the port, with a one-day charge. But from the
seventh day owners have to pay a daily parking fee.

Harmani said the private terminals covered the cost of
transporting the containers from the port. But their daily
parking fee is higher.

The private terminals will charge container owners the
transport cost if they fail to remove their containers within the
six-day period.

Minister Haryanto urged the port authorities to strengthen
cooperation with all parties concerned with port management to
ensure a smooth implementation of the new customs procedures.

The new 1995 customs law introduces self-assessed import
duties and taxes, selective on-arrival inspections and post-
release audits at Tanjung Priok port and Soekarno-Hatta airport.
(bnt)