Pelni to acquire five Caraka Jaya cargo vessels

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned oceanliner PT Pelayaran Indonesia (Pelni) will procure five locally-made Caraka Jaya vessels to replace four cargo vessels that are going to be scrapped later this year.

Pelni president Roesman Anwar said yesterday that his company is scheduled to receive a Caraka Jaya each year from PT PAL, the builder of the vessels, from this year until 2000.

"We're still holding negotiations with PAL on the price of the vessels," Roesman said at a celebration of the company's 44th anniversary.

He said that Pelni will pay for the Caraka Jaya vessels based on a 10-year installment plan with an annual interest rate of 10 percent.

Roesman refused to disclose the cost of one Caraka Jaya vessel.

In addition to the planned procurement, Pelni has an option to buy 10 Palindo Jaya passenger vessels, each with a capacity of 500 passengers, from the Surabaya-based PAL.

Pelni earlier held a series of stiff negotiations with PAL to procure the Palindo Jaya. The two firms are still arguing about the payment plan, which will require the shipping company to pay in cash.

"I don't think that there is a shipping firm in the world that buys vessels in cash," Roesman said yesterday.

He said the main point of contention is not the price offered by PAL, but the payment arrangement.

"We have proposed our payment arrangement, but we have not yet received any response," he said.

PAL, one of the country's strategic industrial firms overseen by Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, is believed to have offered the Palindo Jaya to Pelni at more than US$30 million each.

Pelni originally expected to operate a Palindo Jaya by the Idul Fitri holiday in February but failed to do so as negotiations had not been completed.

Pelni usually procures its vessels, most with a capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 passengers, from Jos L. Meyer GmbH & Co. of Germany, using Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau as its financier.

Pelni, which expects to operate a fleet of 19 vessels with 24,267 seats by the end of this year, last year transported 5.39 million passengers and expects to transport 5.42 million passengers in 1996.

Pelni will be required later this year to pay millions of dollars in down payments for the two 2,000-passenger vessels it ordered from Jos L. Meyer.

Roesman said that Pelni expects to gain more profits this year due to a recent fare increase.

"We predict Pelni's profits this year will increase by about 30 percent or 40 percent," he said.

"Before this month's announcement of new fares, Pelni expected to net Rp 16 billion in profits this year," he said. "But now the company is likely to gain between Rp 20 billion or Rp 22.5 billion in profits in 1996."

Pelni's profits increased to Rp 18.5 billion last year from Rp 12 billion in 1994, out of which 60 percent to 70 percent came from the company's side businesses. (icn)