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ndonesian Logistics Association (ALI) has predicted that logistics costs in the country will increase by about 3 percent this year following a rise in port fees resulting from port operators’ service expansion.

ALI chairman Zaldy Masita said that logistics costs, which currently account for 17 percent of the price of most goods, would rise to 20 percent. The percentage is among the highest in Southeast Asia, in which average logistics costs stand at around 10 percent.

“This is an irony. Better port services are supposed to help boost efficiencies that will eventually push down logistics costs. It appears that Indonesia lags behind countries in the region in the logistics sector,” Zaldy told The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia’s logistics performance is one of the poorest among ASEAN countries. It ranks 59th out of 155 developing and high income economies included in the World Bank’s 2012 logistics performance index, far below the Philippines and Vietnam.

State-owned port operator Pelindo I has recently increased terminal handling costs in Belawan Port, North Sumatra by 14.3 percent to Rp 650,000 (US$62.4) per 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container.

Meanwhile, Pelindo II, also known as the Indonesian Port Corporation (IPC), plans to increase cargo handling costs by 82.8 percent to Rp 500,000 per TEU in Pontianak Port, West Kalimantan.

More ports nationwide are expected to increase their fees throughout 2013, he said.

“We are worried when [the construction of] Kalibaru Port is completed, the port fees will soar because the port is being built with a large investment and offers more services,” Zaldy said.

The Rp 24 trillion Kalibaru Port, also known as New Priok, is slated to eclipse the adjacent cargo gateway at Tanjung Priok Port as the country’s largest industrial port, with a planned capacity of 13 million TEUs.

In the first phase, three container terminals with a total capacity of 4.5 million TEUs are expected to be completed by the end of 2015 to cope with congestion at Tanjung Priok.

Besides increasing port fees, shipowners were concerned about waiting times of container ships, which stood at more than six compared to an average three-day waiting time in major regional ports, he said.

Zaldy said that Indonesia should immediately find solutions or logistics costs would continue to rise and hurt the shipping industry.

Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA) chairwoman Carmelita Hartoto demanded a fee moratorium because the costs that shipowners had to pay to port operators were too high. She said that 60 percent of freight costs went to pay port fees, including stuffing, storage and terminal handling costs.

“We want the port operators to stop increasing their fees. How can we possibly decrease logistics costs if the fees continue rising? We want every stakeholder to collaborate with us in decreasing the costs,” she told the Post.

Carmelita said that by keeping port fees low, shipowners could maintain low freight costs, enabling local producers to better compete with imported goods.

In addition, INSA is facing the impact of the minimum wage increase and increased electricity base price, which will both drive up operational costs.

Separately, Pelindo II president director Richard Joost Lino claimed that port fees in the firm’s 12 ports, including Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, Boom Baru in Palembang, and Pangkal Balam in Bangka Belitung, were not high.

“The fee is not that high and dwell time in our ports doesn’t reach six days. Even in Priok, some ships don’t wait more than one day because we keep investing to help streamline the handling of containers in and out of the terminal,” Lino said.

He said that one of its subsidiaries, the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT), had recently provided the Jakarta Auto Gate System (JAGS) that provides customers with more efficient and accurate delivery and pick up of containers.

Moreover, the Transportation Ministry’s sea transportation director general, Leon Muhammad, said that the ministry was going to talk to INSA and port operators to find a solution to the issue next week.