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)