Importers Protest Cargo Held at Port: Potential Losses in the Trillions

Jakarta — The National Importers Association of Indonesia (GINSI) has lodged a strong protest against container shipments being held at Tanjung Priok port.

GINSI chairman Subandi stated that container terminal operators at the port are refusing to issue gate passes or TILA (container release documents) on a temporary basis.

This document is a prerequisite for business operators to retrieve their goods from the port.

“The port’s policy of not issuing gate passes or TILA documents for cargo owners wishing to retrieve their shipments is an ill-conceived policy,” said Subandi when contacted on Monday, 16 March 2026.

According to Subandi, if importers are unable to collect their cargo from the port within 14 days, they must pay container demurrage charges of 80 US dollars per day (with a 7-day free time period).

Cargo owners must also pay storage charges at the port, costing 255,000 rupiah per container, not including value-added tax.

“If calculated over 14 days, this amounts to approximately 3,040,000 rupiah per 20-foot container per day. With 140,000 containers, the costs borne reach 400 billion rupiah,” Subandi said.

Additionally, business owners lose sales opportunities and revenue.

Based on an average of 10,000 containers exiting the port daily, approximately 140,000 containers would be held within 14 days. Importers would incur demurrage charges of 560 US dollars per container over 7 days, totalling approximately 1.33 trillion rupiah in costs.

“Cargo owners are estimated to suffer hundreds of billions of rupiah in losses due to container demurrage penalties, and potentially trillions when accounting for stalled production activities and lost business opportunities,” Subandi said.

He criticised the policy as ill-conceived because it was implemented without consultation with business operators or their representative associations.

The delay in issuing TILA documents has disrupted the supply of raw materials to industries.

“Why not just close all industries so no companies operate, economic activity stops, and streets remain clear of traffic,” Subandi said sarcastically.

Kompas.com contacted the director of operations for New Priok Container Terminal One, Rino Wisnu Putro, for confirmation regarding this matter. However, no response had been received at the time of publication.