The government aims to increase traffic at Tanjung Priok Port in north Jakarta following reforms of the latter’s authorities in a move that would allow ot to become an international transhipment hub.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the port could increase the annual capacity of containers handled from 7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at present to 15 million TEUs in the next three years.
“If i am being ambitious then it [traffic] would double in the next three years. Hopefully, the private sector is on the same page. We could achieve it [the target] if we work together, “said Budi in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The ministry shook up the port’s management to cut lengthy procedures and promote efficiency. One change to immediately take place is the opening of the port’s office to seven days a week as, currently, goods arriving on weekend cannot be cleared and shipped from the port, Budi further said.
The Office of Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister is conducting a study to measure the competitiveness of service costs at Tanjung Priok Port against competing ports. State-owned port operator PT Pelindo II bosted the capcity of the port to cope with a surging number of containers.
Pelindo II president director Elvyn G. Masassya said the port’s annual capacity would increase to 11.5 million TEUs with the addition of 4.5 million TEUs from new terminals at KIalibaru Port that are slated to begin operating in 2019.
Citing an example of shipments to South Korea from Semarang via either Singpaore or Tanjung Priok, Elvyn said that Tanjung Priok held a competitive advantage over its rival in Singapore. “We could offer US $100 less because of cost and handling efficiencies,”he said.
Elvyn further said the port operator would continue to reform its business processes to ensure more efficient services for its customers, including by digitalizing them. As the port business was in the service sector, Pelindo II focused on providing speedy, accessible and transparent services with adequate infrastructure, he added.
The technical driector of customs at the Finance Ministry’s directorate general of customs and excise, Fajar Doni, said the simplification of procedures was vital to support Tanjung Priok’s bid to become a major International transhipment hub.
“The key is that we need to simplify [the procedures] for automated and speedy services,” he said. Fajar said his office was drafting a revision for Ministerial Decree No. 90/2007 on transhipment in order to further stramline procedures pertaining to transhipment.
Customs authorities offered a variety of customs facilities at the port to slash down logistics costs, he said., adding that they also worked closely with, among other stakeholders, Pelindo II and the Jakarta Internatioal Container Terminal Office (JICT) to use information technology-based surveillance in monitoring shipments.