Govt defends hikes in seaport service rates

JAKARTA (JP): Directorate General of Sea Transportation Soentoro yesterday vowed to improve efficiency of port services following the recent rise in rates of five port services.

The country's ports, for example, will improve navigation services, he told reporters after signing an agreement on consulting services for vessel procurement.

The government recently raised fees for five port services by a range of 14.28 to 50 percent for domestic shipping and a range of 7.5 to 32.35 percent for foreign shipping. The fees raised include those for the leasing of mechanical and other related tools, passenger entry and containers at the ports of Belawan (North Sumatra), Tanjung Priok (Jakarta) and Tanjung Perak (East Java).

Executives of the Indonesian National Ship-owners Association, the Association of Freight-forwarders & Expeditions and the Indonesian Importers' Association have expressed disappointment over the unexpected increases. Members of the House of Representatives, worried about the impact on inflation, have also expressed concern and said they will ask Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto to weigh the reasons behind the hikes.

Information

Soentoro said yesterday that the government had actually informed the executives of the associations about the fee increases.

He stressed the importance of the ports needing to be solvent, pointing out that the fees had not been increased since 1988, whereas electricity rates have been raised three times since then -- by 25.4 percent in 1991, 27 percent in 1992 and 7.6 percent this month. Fuel prices were also raised by 22 percent in 1991 and by 27 percent last year.

"The increase in port service fees should not be dramatized because the impact is estimated to raise freight costs and overall prices by only 0.1 to 0.6 percent," Soentoro said.

He said executives of the state-owned port management firms -- PT Pelabuhan Indonesia I, II, III and IV -- had also told legislators about the companies' financial problems and advised them that they might increase the fees.

"Pelabuhan Indonesia II, for example, might have suffered a decrease of Rp 7 billion in revenue if the fees were not raised," he said.

With the fee increases, this year the government expects a total profit of Rp 31.04 billion from Pelabuhan Indonesia I, Rp 111.53 from Pelabuhan Indonesia II, Rp 39.83 from Pelabuhan Indonesia III and Rp 7.57 billion from Pelabuhan Indonesia IV.

Amir Harbani, president of Pelabuhan Indonesia II which manages the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, said that the four port management firms will charge the old rates to shipping companies which had ordered services before Nov. 1.

Harbani said the port service fees, after the increases, are still much lower than those in other Southeast Asian countries including Singapore and Thailand.

Navigation

Meanwhile, Soentoro also said yesterday that Indonesia will soon refurbish its navigation vessels.

"Currently, we have 72 navigation vessels of various types, 43 of which are already 25 years old. To ensure optimum operation, both for installation and maintenance of navigational aid facilities, refurbishing of the old vessels is necessary," he said.

The rejuvenation will be based on the consulting service made under yesterday's agreement, which was signed by Soentoro, head of the navigational survey, A. Tonny Budiono, director for operation of PT Tomo & Son Soegiri Prawirodirdjo, and the executive director of Overseas Shipbuilding Cooperation Center of Japan, Hisashi Ando.

Tomo & Son and OSCC will carry out the project.

Phases of the project of the development of navigation facilities comprise of consulting, designing and tendering.

The consulting service, to be undertaken in two and a half years, has a contract value of 76.26 million yen and Rp 424.09 million (totaling about US$978,000), and will be partly financed by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan.

The fund earlier supported the procurement of four vessels for the same program, in which the winner of the tender will be announced in the near future.(icn)