RI's shipping industry too protective: Greek shipowners
RI's shipping industry too protective: Greek shipowners
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Greek Shipowners Association (GSA) has urged the Indonesian
government to review its policies for the shipping industry, and
reduce the high costs of doing business here in order to
encourage foreign investors to put their money into the sector.
"Many Greek shipping tycoons backed up by major international financial
institutions are interested in investing in Indonesia but they
find the shipping industry here unattractive to foreign
investment," Georgios E. Katsimpiris, an executive of the Greek
Shipowners Association, said following a closed-door meeting with
a number of executives of the Indonesian National Shipowners
Association (INSA) here on Monday.
Katsimpiris criticized Presidential Instruction No. 5/2005 on
the revitalization of the domestic shipping industry, which he
said was excessively protective for local shipping firms.
"To make the domestic shipping industry more competitive,
Indonesia needs to open its domestic shipping market to foreign
shipping firms," he said.
This presidential instruction, which applies the cabotage
principal, stipulates that domestic cargoes must be shipped by
domestic vessels, and that foreign investors are allowed to own a
maximum of 49 percent of the shares in a local partner.
Katsimpiris said foreign investors should be allowed to own
more than 50 percent of the shares to ensure the security of and
control over their investments.
"We come here not to donate but to make money and benefit
Indonesia because we pay taxes and employ Indonesian seafarers.
We have many vessels but no seamen," he said, adding that similar
investment policies has been adopted by developed countries such
as Britain, the Netherlands, the United States, Japan and South
Korea.
Besides reviewing its protectionist policies, he said that the
government should also simplify investment procedures, eliminate
corruption in the country's ports and enhance security in its
waters.
"Indonesia has more than 1,000 shipping firms but most use
flags of convenience from Liberia, Greece, Panama and Malta in
order to avoid the high-cost economy caused by a corrupt
bureaucracy and complicated administrative procedures in almost
all seaports," he said
He added that the busy Malacca Strait was quite prone to
piracy.
Meanwhile, International Transport Federation (ITF)
representative Hanafie Rustandi said the presence of foreign
shipping firms in Indonesia would certainly help the country's
economic growth, especially in the export sector, and create
employment opportunities for Indonesian workers.
"This would open Indonesia's eyes amid the tight international
competition and encourage domestic shipping companies to improve
their professionalism. The entrance of foreign competitors in all
sectors is unavoidable in the global market.
"And this would, in turn, force Indonesian seafarers to
improve their skills so as to allow them to compete with skilled
seafarers from the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and
Africa."