Fees for container handling to increase by 30 percent

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Communications will raise handling fees for containers in terminals operated by state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II by an average of 30 percent beginning next month.

The fees for the loading and unloading of a 20-foot container will cost Rp 6,500 a day ($0.80), up from the previous Rp 5,000 a day. For 40-foot containers, the fee is being hiked to Rp 13,000 a day from the present Rp 10,000 a day.

Pelindo II operates Tanjung Priok port and other seaports in western Indonesia.

Chairman of the Indonesian Importers' Association (Ginsi) Amirudin Saud said that the hike was reasonable as the handling charges for containers had not been raised for the last seven years.

"The members of Ginsi and the Indonesian Exporters' Association (GPEI) are able to accept the hike, as it is the only way to go," he was quoted by Antara as saying on Thursday.

The increase in port service charges could not be separated from hikes in fuel prices and electricity rates, fluctuations in the value of the rupiah against the dollar, and high inflation, Amirudin said.

He stressed that the hike would not disrupt import and export activities as the fees after the hike would still, in fact, be some 40 percent lower than the fees charged in Singapore.

Exports have been performing excellently, Amirudin said, adding that exports for the first six months of the year were 10 times higher than during the same period ten years ago.

On the other hand, there had been a change in the composition of imports as between capital and consumption goods, which had dropped both in volume and value, and of raw materials and production goods which now comprise some 70 percent of all imports, he said.

"The increase in imports of raw materials and production goods, signals the reactivation of domestic manufacturing production.

"Hopefully (this means) the real sector will return to normal," Amirudin said. (10)