S

tate-owned train company PT KAI is targeting a 20 percent year-on-year revenue increase in 2014 and plans to distribute the growth evenly across its passenger and logistics business sectors.

KAI spokesperson Sugeng Priyono said on Wednesday that the company aimed at reaping Rp 9.7 trillion (US$834.04 million) in revenue, 20 percent higher than the previous year.

The company booked Rp 560 billion in net profits last year, an increase of 31.7 percent from the Rp 425 billion a year earlier.

'€œAround 52 percent of our revenue last year was derived from the passenger sector, while the logistics sector contributed around 47 percent,'€ Sugeng told reporters.

'€œWe are hoping to slowly increase the revenue from our logistics sector this year,'€ he said.

Sugeng previously said that the firm would provide logistics services to the country'€™s major companies, including state-owned steel giant Krakatau Steel and cement producer PT Semen Gresik, after the Trans Java double-track line connecting Jakarta to Surabaya in East Java became fully operational, which is scheduled to happen
in June.

He said that over the past three years the company had prepared around 100 locomotives and 1,200 flat cars that would be used to support the operation of the double-track system.

The Trans-Java double track, which stretches 727 kilometers from Jakarta to Surabaya through Java'€™s northern coastal area (Pantura), will be able to transport around 1 million containers a year.

The double track will increase the existing railway capacity from 84 to 200 trains per day and reduce road congestion.

The Rp 10.5 trillion project is expected to increase the freight train frequency to 15 trips per day with a capacity of 500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Meanwhile, Karya Bakti Kaban, corporate service vice president of PT Kereta Api Logistik (Kalog), a subsidiary of KAI, said that even though the firm would not yet be in a position to contribute the largest portion of revenue to the parent company this year, it saw great potential from the operation of the Trans Java double track.

'€œA few companies have expressed their interest in using our services, ranging from auto companies to gold-mining companies,'€ he said.

'€œWe see this as a great opportunity but of course this cooperation requires adjustments to our train cars, which is why we haven'€™t finalized the contracts.'€

He said that the firm booked Rp 294 billion in revenue last year, an increase of 145 percent from the Rp 121 billion a year earlier.

Karya said that cooperation with cement producer PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa to transport cement from Nambo, Bogor, West Java, to Kalimas in East Java was the biggest contributor to the company'€™s revenues.

Karya said that the firm would also increase the capacity of its cargo terminals this year in line with the operation of the double track.

The firm currently operates five cargo terminals, namely Sungai Lagoa in Tanjung Priok (Jakarta), Cibungur in Purwakarta (West Java), Cikarang Dry Port in Cikarang (West Java), Waru in Surabaya and Kalimas in Surabaya.