RI market remains promising for courier firms
RI market remains promising for courier firms
Rudijanto, Contributor, Jakarta
While the country struggles to boost its exports, and prepares
for its first-ever direct presidential election, the local market
remains promising for international and domestic courier and
express-delivery companies.
Despite the predicted slight growth of the country's economy
to 4.5 percent this year from 4.1 percent last year by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), courier and express-delivery companies
have every reason to remain upbeat.
Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Express-Delivery
Companies (Asperindo) Johari Zein was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia
as predicting that the domestic express-delivery business would
boom this year, due to strong demand from political parties and
the General Elections Committee (KPU).
Founded in 1986, Asperindo has over 500 private companies with
2000 branches across the nation. The association's members
comprise three categories in line with their scope of operation,
namely international-oriented, domestic-oriented and inter-city
oriented companies.
The general election is considered one of the biggest
logistical operations in the nation's history. Johari earlier
expected the election to increase the volume of services by
express-delivery companies by 20 percent.
KPU appointed four major courier companies, namely state-owned
PT Pos Indonesia, PT Sentra, PT Pandu Siwi Sentosa and PT Aneka
Jasa Putra Tama. While small players that provide inter-city
services also enjoyed the high demand.
"Next to the Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays, the
general election also provided a big opportunity for our business
due to increasing demands for the faster delivery of documents
and goods," said M. Lestari, a branch manager of local inter-city
courier company Jalur Nugraha Express as quoted by the Suara
Merdeka daily.
Not only domestic players feel upbeat about business prospects
this year, international giants, such as FedEx, consider
Indonesia part of the fast-moving Asia-Pacific region, and a very
promising market.
"FedEx views the Indonesian market as an excellent place to do
business. The nation forms an integral part of our business in
Asia, and we believe that the Asia-Pacific region continues to be
a magnet for export activities," said Ramesh Kumar Singham,
managing director of FedEx Express for Indonesia and Singapore.
Like other major courier companies, the United Parcel Service
(UPS) is also upbeat about the prospects of the courier market in
Indonesia, one of the largest economies in the Asia Pacific.
The United States-based UPS, which is one of the world's major
courier companies and a global leader in supply chain solutions,
has spent a lot of money both in technology and in opening new
branches to take advantage of the growing courier market in the
country.
Even though UPS's focus is on the international market,
building branch offices in Indonesia's major cities is seen as an
important strategy to provide local businesspeople easy access to
its services.
With new technology and a fleet expansion, UPS customers are
guaranteed that their packages will arrive on time. The company's
latest technology also enables customers to track their packages
through UPS's website within a matter of seconds.
Chairman of the National Economic Recovery Committee -- who is
also the chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association
(Apindo) -- Sofjan Wanandi, expects exports will remain stagnant
this year due to a lack of policy that supports a significant
increase. Although, he believes the value of the country's
exports is still huge for courier and logistics companies.
The country's central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), estimates
export figures in the first quarter this year to drop, due to
mainly a decline in oil and gas exports. However, BI expects non-
oil and gas exports will still grow by 0.2 percent to US$12.02
billion as compared to the same period of last year.
Indonesian exports reached US$61.023 billion last year. This
export figure shows a slight increase compared to 2001 and 2002,
when exports did not exceed US$60 billion. Last year's export
figure was close to the country's export figure in 2000, which
was US$62.124 billion.
With the recent relatively smooth election for legislative
members, courier and logistics companies expect the presidential
election will bring stability to the country, and thereby provide
a good climate for the economy in general, including for exports.
As part of the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia has
a lot to offer. That is why FedEx firmly believes the country
will play a significant role, especially given the role of
exports in the Indonesian economy.
"FedEx's business in Asia-Pacific for the third quarter of the
2003-2004 financial year recorded a 22 percent year-over-year
growth in daily package volume. This is a fantastic result that
highlights not just the strength, but also the importance of this
region for our international business," said Ramesh.
As an international giant in the express-delivery and
logistics service, FedEx is strengthening its position in
Indonesia. FedEx flies its own fleet of 643 aircraft and connects
Indonesia to the world through its daily flights.
The company provides custodial control from pick up to
delivery. This service is aimed at manufacturers with high value
and time sensitive products, who require a fast and reliable
service to deliver their goods to the market.
Other services include a time-definite, premium airfreight
service for international shipments; the delivery of bulk
shipments from one point to multiple addresses in one country;
and the delivery of smaller packages, such as documents, for
items requiring next-day delivery to 215 countries worldwide.
Another international heavyweight player in express delivery
and logistics service -- DHL -- even considers Indonesia a vital
component of the company's regional growth strategy. The company
sees the country's wealth of natural resources, huge population
and large business base as key factors that make Indonesia one of
the biggest economies in the region.
"Having been in this country for more than 30 years now, we
know that Indonesia will continue to remain a major economy in
the region and that long-term growth prospects are excellent. A
number of sectors, such as manufacturing and export, are
registering strong growth, and this presents us with very good
opportunities to further develop our business," said Edi
Prayitno, DHL's business development manager.
Like FedEx, DHL also operates its own dedicated flight to and
from Singapore using a Boeing 727 freighter that has a capacity
of 23 tons. The aircraft flies four times a week in order to
provide services for Indonesian businesses.
With this great confidence in the Indonesian market, DHL has
launched a new service -- Express Pallet -- that offers a new
fixed-price packaging and transport solution designed to match
real-time distribution systems, as well as specific packaging
configurations from 50 kilograms up to 100 kilograms.
This new door-to-door service, which is available from
Indonesia to 220 destinations worldwide, is especially aimed at
industries, such as automotive, clothing and textile, leather,
electronics, as well as oil and gas. Initially, DHL Express
Pallet is available outbound from Jakarta, Batam, Surabaya and
Bali.
The heart of DHL's Express Pallet is a strong, yet highly
versatile pallet box with a base measuring 790 mm by 790 mm. This
box can be configured to accommodate shipments from 470 mm up to
810 mm in height. In its largest configuration (790 mm x 790 mm x
810mm) the DHL Express Pallet has a load capacity of 100
kilograms.
Aware of the potential of the overseas delivery service, local
company PT Citra Van Titipan Kilat Indonesia (TIKI) has also
expanded their international network. Last February, the company
signed a strategic partnership agreement with Malaysia-based
Nationwide Express Courier Services Berhad. Like Nationwide
Express, TIKI is also strengthening its international express
services. TIKI will continue to set up a number of indirect
alliances with selected express companies to serve their valuable
existing and potential customers, as well as direct alliances
globally.
In spite of ADB's forecast of minute economic growth for this
year and flat growth in 2005, local, as well as international
express-delivery and logistics companies, continue to deepen
their roots here. Being one of the biggest countries in the
Asia-Pacific region, the Indonesian market is simply hard to
ignore; particularly in the long run.