Stork seeks engineering partners in Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): Stork Engineering & Contracting of the Netherlands is inviting local industrial companies to set up cooperation both for providing multidisciplinary engineering services and for producing components of industrial equipment.

"We are now seeking exclusive cooperation with local manufacturers for producing components of industrial equipment," Hans J.G. Ten Kate, an executive director of Stork N.V. for Indonesia and Vietnam, said.

Kate told reporters in a break of a one-day seminar on oil and gas on Thursday that his Naarden-based company is now negotiating with some state companies supervised by the Agency for the Management of Strategic Industries (BPIS) on the manufacturing of components for industrial plant equipment.

The seminar was jointly organized by the state oil corporation Pertamina and Stork Engineering. Stork Engineering, which manages 12 other companies, is a business unit of the Stork Group.

Kate said he was optimistic that such cooperation will be able to improve the competitive edge of Indonesian products and services on the international market.

He said his company also plans to set up a Stork house in Indonesia to support the operation of the country's manufacturers.

He said his company's annual sales in Indonesia have averaged $2 million in the last five years.

For comparison, Stork's worldwide sales are estimated at $400 million a year.

Sales in Indonesia are expected to increase to $5 million this year and to $10 million next year, he said.

In cooperation with PT Indomarine, a subsidiary of Astra International Inc., Stork produces palm oil plant equipment, some of which is exported.

Stork also sells textile printing machines, food producing equipment, diesel power generators, boilers for sugar plants, industrial pumps and palm oil machinery. (fhp)