Local businesses oppose fee hike at Priok port

Local businesses oppose fee hike at Priok port

JAKARTA (JP): Six business associations urged the government
yesterday to cancel Minister of Transportation Haryanto
Dhanutirto's new rule which raises container handling fees by 26
percent at the city's Tanjung Priok port.

"Under the new ministerial decree No.62/1996, effective from
Nov. 15, loading and unloading fees at the conventional container
terminal were raised by 26.1 percent on average, not 2.7 percent
as originally promised by the government," the chairman of the
Indonesian Importers Association, Amiruddin Saud, said yesterday.

Other business associations opposing the new regulation
include the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo), the
Association of Indonesian Freight Forwarding and Expedition, the
Federation of Indonesian Exporters, the Association of Indonesian
Electronics and Home Electric Appliance Industries and the
Indonesian Textile Association.

Saud said that under the new regulation a 20-feet equivalent
unit container would be charged Rp 110,000 (US$46.9), up 20.2
percent on the previous handling fee, while haulage/trucking fees
surged 57.1 percent to Rp 16,500 ($7).

Aprisindo vice chairman Anton J. Supit said yesterday the
government should not have raised the service fees because PT
Pelabuhan Indonesia II, the state-owned firm assigned to manage
Tanjung Priok port and the country's other major ports, was very
profitable.

Both Supit and Saud agreed that Pelabuhan II would be highly
profitable with the old fees based on ministerial decree
No.75/1991.

"Even a very small rise hits businesses hard in textiles,
footwear and plywood," Supit said.

Impact

Minister Haryanto said Monday the new ruling only affected the
Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, not the three other major ports:
Surabaya in East Java, Medan in North Sumatra and Ujungpandang in
South Sulawesi.

"The fee increase will not hit many businesses because the
conventional terminal usually handles just 10 percent of total
container movements at Tanjung Priok."

"Besides, the fees are negotiable and the biggest portion of
the fees will go to private stevedoring companies and not to
Pelabuhan II," he said.

The associations criticized Minister Haryanto yesterday for
licensing private terminal operators and the "one-stop port
management system" (a new system to increase efficiency) at the
Tanjung Priok's container terminal.

"Terminal operators, mainly private firms which are licensed
by state-owned Pelabuhan II, emerged two years ago. Their
operations do not have any legal basis, neither does the one-roof
(one-stop) system which was introduced late last year," Saud
said.

He said that, under Presidential Decree No.44/1985, the Port
Administrator was the only party allowed to handle sea
transportation matters.

"Since the decree has never been amended, I think minister
Haryanto has made a mistake by allowing private firms to become
terminal operators," Saud said.

The one-stop service system breaches Presidential Instruction
No.4/1985 which was amended by Presidential Instruction No.3/1991
regarding port operations, he said. (icn)