PT Pelabuhan II promises rapid port improvement

PT Pelabuhan II promises rapid port improvement

JAKARTA (JP): PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II, the state firm
managing the Tanjung Priok port, has announced its crash programs
to improve services, while foreign shipping lines confirmed that
they might impose additional charges on congestion.

Harry Sutanto, a spokesman for Pelabuhan II, said in a
statement, made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday, that
to overcome problems caused by congestion, the company has begun
constructing an additional 2,295 meters of piers at its
conventional terminal, and 700 meters of piers at its container
terminals.

Efficiency will also be stepped up as the port will start
conducting services under a "single service center" policy for
ship berthing, cargo handling and management, while procedures
for processing shipping and cargo papers will be simplified.

The port company has, recently, been criticized for its poor
services and the harbor's lack of facilities.

Chairman of the Indonesian Importers' Association, Amiruddin
Saud, said earlier this week that foreign shipping companies were
threatening to impose additional charges of up to US$70 million a
year on importers to compensate for their losses caused by the
delayed waiting time before entering the harbor.

Shipping companies said that operational costs for ships,
either operated or docked, range between $10,000 and $15,000 a
day.

Surcharge

T. Tandano, chairman of the Overseas Ship Owners'
Representatives Association, told the Post yesterday that
although the association is not an association to stipulate a
certain surcharge, other forums may decide to do so.

The Intra Asia Discussion Agreement forum, which consists of
44 shipping lines from the Asia-Pacific, might be one to impose
such a surcharge and may decide to do so if they considered it
necessary, he cited.

The forum, he said, would hold their monthly meeting on June
26, in which Pelabuhan II officials are expected to attend to
elaborate, in detail, about the time schedules of their crash
programs on service improvement.

"This is very important to us because it can give us a clear
picture of the port's condition and future plans," he stressed.

Tandano, who is also the chairman of the forum's Indonesia
committee, said that foreign shipping lines are currently in a
"wait and see" situation, with their next step solely depending
on Pelabuhan II's plans.

"Nobody wants to impose surcharges, but judging from the
losses, it can't be avoided any longer," he said, adding that if
shipping companies decided to impose additional fees, it will
cause "a very bad image for Indonesia."

He said that the volume of cargoes handled at Tanjung Priok
might increase to 1.5 million twenty-feet equivalent units (TEUs)
this year, from 1.3 million TEUs last year.

At that volume, Tanjung Priok ranked 24th last year, with Hong
Kong ranking first with 11 million TEUs and Singapore second with
10.4 million TEUs.

Harry said that apart from additional docks, Pelabuhan II has
also made an agreement with the port's users -- including the
Indonesian National Shipowners Association, the Indonesian
Importers' Association and the Federation of Indonesian Exporters
-- to run services on a 21-hour per day working schedule and to
increase gradually the productivity of cargo handling services by
25 percent.

The crash programs will also include the expansion of the
harbor's two container terminals by 250 meters.

An expansion of the container yard, to the former Koja Canal
area, is also expected to increase the storage capacity by about
360,000 TEUs.

The planned Koja container terminal, which will be constructed
in collaboration with the private sector, is aimed at
accommodating 1.2 million TEUs per year. It is expected to start
operations in the middle of next year. (pwn)