RI pushes for standard port charge

RI pushes for standard port charge

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's delegation will strive for the
application of similar tariffs on passenger liners and freight
services and port charges in the Growth Area of Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, an official said on
Saturday.

"The differences of port service charges are hampering the
flow of trade between the countries grouped in the East ASEAN
growth area forum," Freddy Rorimpandey, the chief of the North
Sulawesi office of the Ministry of Transportation, was quoted by
Antara as saying.

He said that port charges will be one of the topics to be
discussed in the two-day official meeting of the Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippine East ASEAN Growth Area in
Zamboanga, in the Philippines, this week.

The forum was established to promote business cooperation
between the countries involved, especially territories that
directly border on one another: Brunei; Mindanao in the
Philippines; the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia; and the
provinces of Maluku, North and South Sulawesi and Kalimantan in
Indonesia.

Freddy said that many shipping businessmen in Bitung, North
Sulawesi, have complained about the high service charges at the
Mindanao port in the southern part of the Philippines.

He said that the facilities at the Bitung port are adequate to
handle exports to Mindanao, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, China,
South Korea and the United states.

Freddy added that two ships, each with a 700-ton capacity,
have now been linking the Bitung port and General Santos town in
the southern Philippines twice a month.(04)