Over 1,000 shipping firms may lose operating permits
Over 1,000 shipping firms may lose operating permits
JAKARTA (JP): Over 1,000 shipping companies will lose their
operating permits if they still fail to comply with a new
shipping deregulation ruling which comes into force in October
this year.
Director General of Sea Communications Tjuk Sukardiman said
the local shipping companies had been given two years to adjust
to the new ruling but most of them had failed to do so.
According to him, of the country's 1,762 shipping companies,
only 736 have brought their operations into line with the new
shipping policy.
The other 1,026 shipping companies risk being closed because
it will be difficult for them to meet the October deadline, he
added.
"This is the consequence that we have to accept in enforcing
Government Decree No. 82/1999 ... This is a step towards the
restructuring of the national shipping industry," he told a media
conference at his office here.
The decree was issued by then President B.J. Habibie but it
was stipulated that it would come into effect two years later on
Oct. 5, 2001 to allow time for companies to adjust, Tjuk said.
Under the new shipping policy, domestic shipping companies
must own at least one Indonesian-flagged vessel with a minimum
volume of 175 deadweight tons.
The new regulation also requires a shipping agent to own at
least one Indonesian-flagged vessel with a minimum volume of
5,000 deadweight tons.
The Ministry of Communication's Director of Ocean Traffic
Harijogi said that of the 1,026 companies threatened with
closure, 900 companies, or 51 percent, operated only as shipping
agents without owning their own vessels. The other 126 companies
owned and operated vessels that were below the minimum
requirement of 175 deadweight tons.
"We hope that with the entry into effect of the decree the
real condition of the national shipping industry will improve,"
he said at the media conference.
As of May 21, 2001, the Ministry of Communications recorded
736 companies as being in compliance with the new ruling, of
which 607 owned vessels having a capacity of between 175
deadweight tons and 4,999 deadweight tons, while 129 others owned
vessels with a capacity of over 5,000 deadweight tons and so
therefore could become agents for foreign ships, Harijogi said.
The deregulation measure introduced in 1988 has resulted in a
sharp increase in the number of shipping companies but most of
them only operate as shipping agents.
"With the new shipping policy, we hope there will be no more
shipping companies operating solely as agents for foreign ships,"
Harijogi said.
He explained that the 1988 ruling was originally intended to
improve the professionalism of local agents by encouraging them
to take advantage of their foreign partners' skills and
technological superiority.
"But now, some have actually become the sleeping partners of
foreign shipping companies," Harijogi added.
The Indonesian Shipping Agency Association (ISAA) has raised
concerns that the new ruling will effectively kill the shipping
agency business in the country.
"This need not happen as they (agents) could create joint
ventures with companies that meet the requirements (under the new
ruling)," Harijogi remarked. (tnt)