Panjang port harbors ambitious long term goals

By Prasetyo Subekti

PANJANG, Lampung (JP): Work is going at full steam in this tiny port at the southern tip of Sumatra.

The workers have a 1997 deadline to beat for the completion of the first phase of Panjang Port's expansion project.

PT Pelabuhan II, the government company which administers the Panjang harbor as well as a host of other ports in southwestern Indonesia, including Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, has set an ambitious target for Panjang.

By the time the entire project is completed in the year 2002, Panjang could become an alternative container port to the already congested Tanjung Priok.

"This is the first step towards a fully containerized port," Panjang Port's chief, Prayitno, said while explaining about the work currently in progress.

Panjang is a port city which was built by the Dutch colonial administration in the 17th century. Today it is one of the main cargo ports in the southern part of Sumatra, catering mainly to inter-island freighters. It also began handling ocean-going liners in 1981, but can accommodate only a few at a time.

Yet, because of their limited capacities, the ports of Panjang, Palembang in South Sumatra, Jambi, and Teluk Bayur in West Sumatra, could not take all the cargo bound for the region.

Instead, many freighters still unload their cargo at Tanjung Priok and have it transported by road to various destinations in the southern and central part of Sumatra.

All this is changing.

Of all the four main ports in the region, Panjang has the best chance for expansion given its natural setting. The ports of Palembang and Jambi are too shallow for further expansion. The waters around Teluk Bayur, which faces the Indian Ocean, are too rough for the purpose.

Panjang is located in quiet waters in a bay facing the Sunda Strait. Currently occupying 105 hectares, the port has earmarked another 70.16 hectares adjacent for the current development.

The bay itself embraces 3,953,490 hectares of water area, making it ideal for the expansion of the port.

Prayitno said the port authorities have planned the implementation of the expansion project in two phases, the first running between 1993 and 1997, and the second between 1998 and 2002.

First phase

When the expansion is completed, the port should be a major international sea gate for imports as well as exports, and will surely ease the burden of the Tanjung Priok port.

"It will become an alternative port for Tanjung Priok. International and inter-island freighters can use this port," Prayitno said.

Industries and plantations in the southern part of Sumatra will be the main beneficiaries of the expansion.

"They will no longer have to pick up their imported raw materials from Tanjung Priok," he said.

Under the first phase of the construction, the container freight station will be enlarged from six hectares at present to 15 hectares. And a new 45 ton-capacity gantry crane to dispatch containers will be installed in the 300-meter shipyard.

The authorities plan to bring in new heavy equipment such as lift-off and lift-on transtainer crane.

The container port's estuary will be widened to 225 meters.

A new 200-meter dry bulk port also will be developed on a nine hectares of land, in cooperation with private companies. The bulk port will be equipped with a conveyor and silo that have the capacity to move 500 tons of goods per hour.

In addition, the authorities will also upgrade and expand the conventional ship dock measuring 1,026 meters in total.

The second phase of the development will focus on containerization. For this purpose the Terminal C, which is currently 140 meters in area, will be enlarged to 400 meters.

A number of new docks also will be built on an islet situated at the mouth of the estuary of Padang Bay.

The plan includes the construction of new dry and liquid bulk ports.

The Lampung provincial government sees the Panjang Port expansion as a matter of pride.

The province's economy is growing so rapidly that industries and traders cannot rely on the congested Tanjung Priok to serve their shipping needs.

Lampung is one of the major coffee producers in Indonesia. It also boasts other crops such as rubber, coconut, cassava, pepper and soybeans.

Industries

Many industries have been relocating to Lampung because they are being pushed out of the greater Jakarta area by soaring land prices.

The presence of an international-standard harbor in the area is expected to boost the pace of industrialization and economic growth in the province even further.

In business terms, the port authorities estimate that at present about two-thirds of the cargoes bound for the southern Sumatra provinces are still going through Tanjung Priok.

All of these are expected to go through Panjang as of 2002, once the major expansion program is completed.

The port has gained some experience in handling large vessels since 1981, when the authorities decided to designate Panjang solely for cargo vessels and to move the ferry port, for crossing to Java, to Bakaheuni.

Last year, Panjang handled 653 ocean-going vessels with a combined gross tonnage of 7.9 million and 2,026 inter-island vessels with a combined gross tonnage of 13.3 million.

It handled 30,753 tons of imported cargo and 119,892 tons of exports in 1993 and a total of 542,340 tons of inter-island cargo shipments. Panjang's container unit handled a total of 39,876 ton equivalent units and 330,870 tons last year.

Many private and state companies have already opened special docks in Panjang.

The state-owned oil company Pertamina, for example, uses three jetty ports for oil discharge and has five terminal tankers here.

The state-owned plantation company, Perkebunan X, also uses a jetty port to discharge crude palm oil and it owns two tankers close to the port. There is also a special dock and two tankers hired by a private company to discharge asphalt.

Other regular port users include PT Andatu which exports wood panels and the state-owned coal company PT Tambang Batubara which sends its coal from the Bukitasam mines in southern Sumatra to the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in West Java and to overseas markets.