Shipowners push for Indonesia port improvement

The Indonesian National Shipowners' Association (INSA) suggests five programmes to improve ports in Indonesia to bolster competitiveness and cut the balance of payment deficit of US$13 billion per annum, reported Bisnis Indonesia.

INSA chairperson Johnson Sutjipto said many problems had to be addressed to bolster port competitiveness.

According to him, nearly all ports in Indonesia share the same problem of low infrastructure and supra-structure quality, low productivity, congestion, and long document processing.

He explained the INSA had been monitoring the situation and had suggested improvement in seven important ports in Indonesia, namely Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak, Tanjung Mas, Belawan, Pontianak, Boom Palembang and Panjang ports, to bolster competitiveness.

"We have directly monitored the seven ports. All share the same problem affecting productivity," he said.

Firstly, deepening the draft to 16m in Priok, to accommodate 6,000 TEUs vessels, to 14m in Tanjung Perak and to 10m in Tanjung Mas.

Boom Palembang and Pontianak ports also need to have their drafts dredged to accommodate bigger boats.

Secondly, productivity must be bolstered at all ports so they can compete with other ports. At Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak,Belawan, Pontianak and Boom Palembang ports, handling productivity should be boosted to 20-25 container boxes per hour per crane.

Thirdly, setting the process to arrange for advanced handling documents at the Custom and Excise Office to maximum 12 hours at Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak and Belawan ports. The dwelling time of import containers at the seven ports should also be cut to three to four hours.

Fourthly, specifically at Belawan port, Medan, the length of the pier should be extended to accommodate three vessels to dock at the same time, thus cutting queuing time for vessels.

Moreover, Pontianak port needs warehouses for stuffing/stripping activities and has to extend its yard as the yard occupation rate (YOR) has reached more than 90 percent.

Fifth, Panjang port in Lampung needs one unit of Cargo Connection to bolster handling productivity and port stay. The port also needs to reactivate balance in the port entry gate to avoid overweight.

Carmelita Hartoto, the chairperson of the Sea Transportation Permanent Committee at the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), disclosed the competitiveness of ports in Indonesia could be spurred by cutting various barriers that curbed port productivity.

Carmelite reminded the government that poor infrastructure quality, low handling productivity, poor congestion, and long Customs document processing had curbed port competitiveness in Indonesia.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)