Government takes over Humpuss's container terminal operator

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed transportation company PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi (HIT) confirmed on Tuesday its container terminal operator at Tanjung Priok port had been taken over by the government following failure to pay its debts.

PT Humpuss Terminal Petikemas, which operates the Koja container terminal, has been under the control of the Asset Management Unit of the Indonesia Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) since April 12 this year, the company said in its annual report.

HIT said the government's move to take over Humpuss Terminal was made after it defaulted on a loan payment to a syndication of banks led by the state Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).

According to the report, Humpuss Terminal, jointly owned by HIT and the state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, owed the bank syndication US$82 million and Rp 79.3 billion.

"What is likely to happen is that BPPN could sell Humpuss Terminal's assets to the third party to recover the unpaid loan," the company said.

HIT is 85.55 percent owned by the Humpuss Group with the remaining shares owned by the investing public. The Humpuss Group is 60 percent owned by former president Soeharto's son Hutomo Mandala Putra, also known as Tommy, and 40 percent by his elder brother Sigit Hardjojudanto.

Tommy is tipped as one of the country's 20 largest debtors at state banks, which recently had bad debts worth about Rp 100 trillion (US$12.8 billion) transferred to IBRA.

The Koja container terminal, which was inaugurated by former president Soeharto in February 1998, has a container stacking capacity of 600,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum. HTP is currently adding facilities at the port to increase its capacity of up to 700,000 TEUs.

Both Humpuss Terminal and HIT are currently asking for an extension of its loan's grace period to 2001 and permission to delay some of the loan interest payment.

Humpuss Terminal's president Onky P. Suwarno said the monetary crisis had had a heavy impact on the Koja terminal's performance.

Only 287,681 TEUs of its container stacking capacity were used last year, compared to a targeted 525,952 TEUs, Onky said after the company's shareholders meeting.

Humpuss Terminal contributed only 2 percent of HIT's revenue last year.

HIT's new president Budhi Halim announced a 200 percent increase in net profit to Rp 74.9 billion in 1998 compared to Rp 25 billion in 1997.

But HIT booked a sharp increase in its total revenues to Rp 695 billion last year from Rp 279 billion in 1997 due largely to the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

The company operates in transporting fuel, liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol, and port service.

"HIT has demonstrated its good performance amid the economic hardship in 1997 and political turmoil in 1998," Budhi told journalists following the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Company shareholders agreed to pay a dividend of Rp 50 per share, accounting for about 30 percent of the company's net profit.

Thus far, HIT has a fleet of 12 tankers chartered to state oil and gas company Pertamina. The fleet contributed 70 percent of company revenue.

Budhi admitted the company's heavy dependency on Pertamina but said it is seeking to reduce that by diversifying its business into other sectors.

Budhi, however, denied the allegation that the company monopolized the transportation of Pertamina's LNG and fuel, pointing out that its tankers only carry 12 percent of Pertamina's fuel and 18 percent of the company's LNG. (jsk)