RI-flagged ships prioritized to carry rice

JAKARTA (JP): State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chairman Beddu Amang promised that the agency would prioritize Indonesian- flagged vessels to carry rice imports.

Beddu said the agency would soon coordinate with the Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA) to implement the plan.

"We really want most of our rice imports to be carried by nationally flagged vessels," Beddu said Thursday on the sidelines of a seminar on crude palm oil organized by the Yayasan Indonesia Forum.

Beddu made the remarks in response to complaints by the INSA that most rice imports were carried by foreign-flagged vessels.

INSA chairman Firdaus Wajdi said the shipment of imported rice was controlled by affiliates of the Salim Group, the country's biggest conglomerate, which prioritized foreign vessels based in Hong Kong and Thailand.

Firdaus said the Salim Group had controlled the shipment of rice imports for a long time. He suspected Bulog had given the group the right to monopolize the shipments.

Beddu admitted that very few nationally flagged vessels were being chartered by Bulog suppliers to carry rice imports because they were difficult to find in the supplying countries or neighboring countries.

He also denied the Salim Group had a monopoly over the shipment of rice.

"The Salim Group is Bulog's rice supplier. We can arrange for it to use nationally flagged ships," he said.

According to Beddu, the shipment of commodities imported by Bulog was carried out on a "cost and freight" scheme in which vessels were chartered by suppliers.

Suppliers

But Bulog could ask suppliers to prioritize the use of Indonesian-flagged vessels which were docked in their countries or neighboring countries, he said.

Beddu said to implement the plan of making most rice imports be carried by nationally flagged vessels, Bulog would coordinate with the INSA to match the schedule of rice imports to Indonesia and the arrival schedule of Indonesian-flagged vessels in the supplying countries or nearby.

"Through such measures, we can identify which nationally flagged vessels arrive in or pass near the countries from which we will import rice. We can then ask our suppliers to use those ships," Beddu said.

Bulog will import 1.5 million tons of rice from Pakistan, India, Vietnam and China for three months until March to add to its existing stock of 1.5 million tons. The rice imports are aimed at covering the shortfall caused by the adverse effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon. (jsk)