State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said PT Terminal Peti Kemas Indonesia, a new subsidiary of four state-owned port operators Pelindo I to Pelindo IV, which will focus on container port terminals, should be up and running by the end of this year
tate-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said PT Terminal Peti Kemas Indonesia, a new subsidiary of four state-owned port operators Pelindo I to Pelindo IV, which will focus on container port terminals, should be up and running by the end of this year.
Dahlan said the establishment of the company should be accelerated in order to boost trade and investment in Indonesia.
“I have met with all four Pelindo president directors, telling them to immediately set up the company,” he said recently.
Previously, the minister had said he wanted the company to be operational in 2013.
Dahlan said he had appointed the president director of Pelindo II, also known as the Indonesian Port Corporation (IPC), Richard Joost Lino, to oversee the setting up of the new company.
Lino said he was ready to accelerate the establishment of Peti Kemas and arrange its plans and programs.
“We are ready to make this company successful to help energize trade and reduce logistics costs in our country. I guarantee that all of us [Pelindo I to IV] are going to work hard to make this happen because we believe in Indonesia’s potential,” Lino said.
He said he and his Pelindo counterparts were trying to find the best individual to preside over the new company.
The four Pelindo companies plan to contribute a total of Rp 3 trillion (US$318 million) of investment in Peti Kemas. “All the Pelindos are using their internal cash to build the company and improve the ports where this company will operate,” he said.
The container terminal company will operate in six main ports across the archipelago as part of Pelindo’s Pendulum Nusantara program: Belawan in North Sumatra; Batam in Riau Islands; Tanjung Priok in Jakarta; Tanjung Perak in East Java; Makassar in South Sulawesi, and Sorong in West Papua.
Pelindo I to IV are currently preparing to accommodate the new business by deepening the ports’ drafts and fixing their waterways and channels.
They are dredging the 7 meter draft of Tanjung Perak port, the 10.5 meter draft of Belawan port, and the 9 meter draft of Makassar port to 13 meters.
He said that all the ports should have a draft of at least 13 meters in order to handle ships of 3,000 twenty-foot-equivalent-unit (TEU) capacity.
Moreover, he said that Pelindo II would begin construction of the 500,000 TEU Sorong port in September.
“Based on our calculations, Terminal Peti Kemas Indonesia and the Pendulum Nusantara system will help reduce logistics costs by up to 50 percent, especially in the eastern regions of Indonesia,” he said.
According to the Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI), Indonesia’s logistics costs are between 25 and 30 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), and are among the highest in Southeast Asia.
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