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)