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tate-run port company Pelindo III will construct new fixed cranes worth US$10.75 million in three of its ports in Java, Kalimantan and Nusa Tenggara in a bid to cope with surging traffic.

Pelindo III commercial and business development director Husein Latief said in Jakarta on Friday that the new cranes would be built in its Gresik, East Java, port, Batulicin Port in South Kalimantan and Lembar Port in West Nusa Tenggara.

'€œWe need these cranes because we'€™ve seen a significant increase in traffic in these ports over the past years due to strong economic growth. The cranes are very important because they have a lot of functions; they can be used to help the loading and unloading of containers, logs and dry bulk goods,'€ Husein told The Jakarta Post.

In Lembar Port, for instance, he said that container traffic had risen to 15,188 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) by the end of 2012, up from 11,566 recorded in the previous year.

The amount of general cargo commodities in the port also increased from 457,785 tons per cubic meter in 2011 to 516,443 tons per
cubic meter throughout last year.

'€œThe same thing occurred in the two other ports, particularly Batulicin, which saw a 204 percent jump in container traffic [from 2011 to 2012]. We want the consortium to make and deliver the products on time because we have to anticipate the surging traffic,'€ he said.

The special cranes will be built by an Indonesia '€“ China consortium consisting of PT Indonusa Harapan Masa, PT Bukaka Teknik Utama, and Jiangsu Gangyi Heavy Machinery Co, Ltd.

Pelindo III and the consortium had signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project at Pelindo'€™s office in Surabaya, East Java on Thursday, he said.

In addition, the firm'€™s spokesman Edi Priyanto said that it had started an expansion project at Tenau Port in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara in order to accommodate more ships and reduce the berth-occupancy ratio at the port, with an investment of Rp 96 billion ($9.69 million).

Edi said that they had teamed up with the publicly listed state-run infrastructure company Adhi Karya on the project.

'€œFirstly, we are going to work on the trestle project to support the old structure of the port and after that we will build a 100-meter jetty. Dredging projects will follow immediately after the two projects finish,'€ he told the Post.

He said that the project was expected to be complete by mid 2013.

By the end of last year, he said that Tenau Port recorded 2,099 ship calls with a berth-occupancy ratio of 65 percent.

After the expansion project, he said that the port would be able to accommodate bulk carriers with a total capacity of 30,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) and long supply vessels of 20,000 DWT.

He said that the expansion was also to meet demand from its loyal customers such as PT Saipem, which had offshore logistics activities in East Nusa Tenggara, and PT Kupang Resources.

After being developed, the port will be capable of handling up to 1.4 million tons of offshore logistics activities annually, up from 600,000 tons.