ITF urges improvements in local shipping industry

ITF urges improvements in local shipping industry

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The International Transport Federation (ITF) has urged the
government to fully enforce Presidential Regulation No. 5/2005,
which applies cabotage in Indonesian waters, as part of a
campaign to have domestic shipowners register their vessels with
the Ministry of Transportation and improve conditions for the
more than 80,000 workers in the shipping industry.

ITF executive John Wood said the federation was deeply
concerned over the lack of attention from the government,
considering that the country relied for a large part of its
freight transportation on the shipping sector.

"The government has the potential to lose billions of dollars in
taxes from domestic vessels annually. Thousands of seafarers are
poorly paid due to weak law enforcement as most ships, especially
above 2,000-ton cargo vessels belonging to Indonesian
businessmen, still use flags of convenience (FOC)," he told The
Jakarta Post after launching the campaign on Friday.

Wood said most shipowners have registered their vessels in
foreign countries such as Liberia, Honduras, Panama and Greece in
an attempt to avoid taxes. Many also prefer to employ foreigners
rather than Indonesian seamen.

Presidential Regulation No. 5/2005, which was issued in March,
stipulates that the country's exports and imports have to be
transported by domestic shipping firms in an attempt to protect
the domestic shipping industry and to improve labor conditions.

At the moment, only 6,500 vessels, including fishing vessels,
are registered with the transportation ministry, and their
workers are paid below minimum wage levels.

Simon des Baux, ITF representative in Tokyo, said Indonesia
should learn from Japan which had long applied cabotage so as to
increase the country's tax revenue from the shipping industry and
improve labor conditions in the sector.

"The government should also take resolute action against
corrupt officials and against FOC vessels that generally neglect
the ILO conventions on minimum wages, insurance schemes and the
marine environment," he said, adding that the Japanese
authorities did not allow FOC Japanese vessels to transport
Japanese exports and imports, and also prosecuted ships that
violated ILO conventions or polluted the marine environment.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Seafarers Association (KPI) said it
would make regular visits to domestic vessels in all major ports
to check on labor conditions and campaign for the use of national
flags.

"The KPI will report domestic vessels violating the regulation
to the ministry and bring lawsuits against vessels failing to
comply with core labor standards, including insurance
requirements," said Hanafie Rustandi, chairman of the KPI.

He also said the KPI and ITF would hold talks with the Indonesian
National Shipowners Association (INSA) and port authorities
nationwide to ensure that the necessary measures were taken to
force all domestic vessels to use the national flag.