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tate-owned port operator Pelindo II is upbeat that container traffic at the country’s main shipment gateway Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta will increase 27 percent by the end of this year on the back of strong economic growth.

Richard Joost Lino, the president director of the company, which is also known as the Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC), said that the container traffic was expected to reach 7 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2012, up from 5.5 million TEUs last year.

“We are optimistic about reaching that figure because the [container] traffic has already reached almost 6 million TEUs. This figure [7 million TEUs] is almost double the traffic in 2009,” Lino said on the sidelines of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Kalabia Foundation at Tanjung Priok on Wednesday.

He said container volume at the port rose 27 percent from 3.6 million TEUs in 2009 to 4.7 million TEUs in 2010, and the figure further increased by almost 20 percent last year to 5.5 million TEUs.

“We are able to boost our business at Tanjung Priok not only because of strong economic growth but also because of strategies and efficiencies that we have put in place since 2009,” he continued.

In the last three years, the firm has spent nearly US$250 million on new container loading cranes and a vessel traffic information system for Tanjung Priok and implemented a 24-hour port operation system.

As a result, a container ship with a capacity of 5,000 TEUs was able to dock at the port every day, he said.

He added that surging cargo traffic was also recorded at 11 other ports managed by the company such as Boom Baru Port in Palembang, South Sumatra, Pontianak Port in West Kalimantan, Pangkal Balam Port in Bangka, Panjang Port in Lampung and Teluk Bayur Port in Padang, West Sumatra.

The firm is currently expanding these ports in order to help accommodate more container traffic.

Teluk Bayur Port, for instance, will have four new terminals and new cranes by the end of this year. The construction has been underway since 2011, he said.

“With the increase in cargo traffic, we are expecting to boost our revenue to Rp 7 trillion [$728 million] this year,” he said.

Last year, IPC booked Rp 5.12 trillion in total revenues, a 41 percent climb from Rp 3.6 trillion in 2010. Its net profits also increased to Rp 1.6 trillion in 2011, up 33 percent from the Rp 1.2 trillion booked in 2010.

The company is currently preparing the construction of the country’s largest port project Kalibaru or the New Priok. The project is scheduled to be launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the end of this month.

“Some construction materials are now being shipped from Bojonegoro [in Central Java] and the Amdal [environmental impact analysis] of New Priok Port is going to be issued next week,” he said.

Based on the master plan, during the first phase, the company will develop three container terminals with a combined capacity of 4.5 million TEUs and two fuel terminals with a total investment of up to $2.5 billion.

The first container terminal with a capacity of 1.5 million TEUs is set to commence operations in the end of 2014, with each additional four terminals being completed in the years following up until 2018.