Stevedoring fees 'not illegal': Official
JAKARTA (JP): The head of North Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port Administration, Aprildo Abidin, said yesterday that the Rp 225 (nine U.S. cents) per ton charged in stevedoring fees at the port's cargo terminal was not an illegal levy.
He said the fees were not imposed by his office but by a collective agreement between his office and associations that used the port's services, such as the Indonesian Importers' Association, the Association of Indonesian Stevedores and the Indonesian National Shipowners' Association.
"The funds are managed collectively by a fund-managing body chaired by the port administration," Aprildo told Antara after a meeting of the fund-managing body's board of executives.
Aprildo said the head of the port's All-Indonesian Workers Union, Ono Suryono -- who had earlier questioned the management of the funds -- had been expelled from the body's executive board. The decision was made during yesterday's meeting.
Antara said Ono had accused the fund-managing body of embezzling the funds which should have been paid to stevedores.
Aprildo said the collection of the fees began in January. From the Rp 225 per ton collected from users of stevedoring services, Rp 50 was to be used for stevedores' housing facilities, Rp 50 for the workers' welfare, Rp 20 for a social foundation and Rp 105 for the fund-managing body.
He said, by example, that from a cargo of 11 million tons, almost Rp 1.28 billion could be collected. These funds would be managed by the fund-managing body, whose members come from various associations.
Chairman of the Indonesian Importers' Association Amiruddin Saud said that not all companies using stevedoring services were paying the fees. It was therefore more effective if the fees were collected by the port administration.
Association leaders during yesterday's meeting insisted that the funds belonged to them and that the fund-managing body had the sole right to allocate the money, even if the fees were collected from many member-companies of the associations on behalf of stevedores.
They pledged to use the funds efficiently, giving the port administration a Rp 250,000 monthly honorarium for the job. In addition to that, each executive board-member would be given Rp 100,000 for each board meeting attended.
Aprildo said 4,760 stevedores were currently employed at the port, but 600 were soon to retire because of health reasons. He said his office would give Rp 350,000 to each retiree.
Amiruddin said yesterday his association and Bank Bukopin would soon open electronic data interchange (EDI) shops at various points in the country to assist small-scale importers.
He said many small importers, particularly those which conducted export-import activities only once or twice a month, were unable to buy the computer equipment needed to communicate with the Customs and Excise office through the EDI.
He said that once the EDI shops began operating, each was expected to be able to complete 25 import notification forms a day. Each importer would be charged Rp 2,500 for each import notification. (pwn)