I

ndonesia’s largest shipping terminal, the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT), wants to increase its annual container handling capacity by almost 30 percent to 2.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) this year, from 2.1 million TEUs last year.

JICT president director Helman Sembiring said Thursday that the additional capacity would be supported by an additional area of container yard currently under construction, termed Phase 3 and 4.

“We expect Phase 3 and 4 to be completed in June while Phase 5 in 2012,” he said at his office at the Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta.

Helman said the project was part of the firm’s investment of US$150 million from 2008 to 2012.

A total of $70 million for the expansion project was sourced from a loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s investing arm, while the remaining $80 million was funded by the company internally, he said.

The project covers the development of 30 hectares of land with 12 hectares allocated for the container yard and the rest for new gate facilities.

JICT is a joint venture, 51 percent owned by Hong Kong-based leading port operator Hutchinson Port Holdings and 49 percent by state-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) II and the Maritime Employees’ Cooperative. JICT operates and develops two container terminals, Terminal I and II, in Tanjung Priok Port under a 20-year lease.

“With the new yard, by 2012 we will be able to handle annually a total of 3 million TEUs of containers,” Helman said, adding that JICT would also build roads connected with the Jakarta Outer Ring Road to provide for the smoother flow of trucks.

“This way we’ll be able to anticipate traffic jams resulting from vehicles coming in and out of the terminals,” Helman said.

JICT was also promoting a full-gate automation system to create more efficient traffic this year, he said. JICT was allocating the remainder of the investment to buy four quay cranes (QCs) and 18 rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGCs) by 2011 and 46 trucks and trailers in 2012, Helman added.

Currently, JICT has a 100-hectare container yard with a total dwelling capacity of 42,600 TEUs and operates 21 QCs and 74 RTGCs.

The Tanjung Priok Port accounts for more than 60 percent of import and export flows in the country, of which 60 percent occurs at the two JICT terminals. (lnd)