Pelindo III plans self-generating cargo port

Pelindo III plans self-generating cargo port

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III has begun
designing the country's first self-generating cargo port.

Pelabuhan Indonesia III president Herman Priyatno said
yesterday the cargo port would be built on reclaimed land
adjacent to the Surabaya and Gresik ports in East Java.

A self-generating cargo port derives its cargo traffic from
industrial plants operating around it, in its supporting area.

Herman said that each hectare of industrial plants in its
supporting area should transport between 10,000 and 15,000 tons
of cargo a year through the planned port.

This means that if the reclaimed area totaled 3,400 hectares,
between 34 million and 50 million tons of cargo would be flowing
into and out of the port.

Herman said this was the reason that reclaimed land should be
developed into industrial estates and export processing zones,
not into housing complexes.

He cited a successful self-generating cargo port in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands.

Herman said the biggest advantage of such ports was their
ability to save transportation costs. The cost of transporting a
container of twenty-feet equivalent units 60 kilometers overland
to a port is about Rp 400,000 (US$173.9).

Herman was quoted by Antara as saying that Surabaya's Tanjung
Perak port and Gresik port were ideal for the project because the
harbor could be deepened to between 14 and 16 meters to
accommodate third-generation vessels.

He said the port's development would require the participation
of many government offices because the port would need supporting
facilities such as toll roads, electricity and clean water.

He said land would have to be acquired to make way for access
roads and mangrove forests must be removed for reclamation.

In a separate development, officials of the Jambi provincial
government in central Sumatra announced that a Rp 2.5 billion
export harbor would be built in Muara Sabak, Tanjung Jabung
regency.

The head of the Ministry of Transportation's provincial
office, Usman Duni, said the area had been selected because it
was deep enough to accommodate ships of up to 15,000 dead weight
tons.

The port would mainly handle crude palm oil (CPO) exports, he
said, so a CPO storage facility would be built there.

Jambi's eight CPO processing plants produce 270 tons of CPO an
hour.

Usman said the Talang Duku port, which officially opened last
year, could not handle CPO shipments because it did not have a
CPO storage facility. (pwn)