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Garuda Cargo opens service centers
Garuda Cargo, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, planned to open 13 more service centers this year in order to achieve its target of running up to 40 service centers this year, one of the companyâs senior executives said
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aruda Cargo, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, planned to open 13 more service centers this year in order to achieve its target of running up to 40 service centers this year, one of the company's senior executives said.
The firm's senior vice president, Rajendra Kartawiria, said the new centers would not only be located in the western half of Indonesia but also in eastern regions, including Papua, Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
'We want to have a cargo service center in the capital cities of every province in the country because they are the gateways for cargo to be distributed to smaller and more remote towns,' Rajendra told The Jakarta Post.
The firm launched operations at its 26th and 27th cargo service centers on Thursday. The centers were located in Tangerang, Banten, and Yogyakarta, he said. 'This is part of our efforts to move closer to our customers, as we have seen increasing demand in the cargo sector for the past few years,' he added.
According to recent data from business consultant Frost & Sullivan, Indonesia's logistics sector is expected to grow by 14.5 percent to Rp 1,634 trillion (US$168.3 billion) this year. Air freight volume will see the highest increase, being projected to rise by 19.6 percent to reach 1.16 million tons from 970,000 tons in 2012.
He said that Garuda Cargo transported some 230,000 tons of cargo last year, up by 12 percent from the previous year. With additional cargo service centers, the firm expected to see a 15 percent rise in the amount of cargo transported and the revenue booked by the end of 2013.
He said the company aimed to book $240 million in revenue this year, up from $209 million in 2012.
'We are optimistic that we can achieve our goals because we are preparing our human resources and infrastructure for this expansion.
'In addition, we plan to enter the logistics transportation sector sometime this year,' he added.
He said the firm was currently exploring opportunities to work with competitive domestic and global cargo players to make that happen.
One or more partnerships with these companies were planned for the second half of this year, he added.
Garuda Cargo also plan to make Medan, North Sumatra, and Makassar, South Sulawesi, their hubs in the future.
