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tate-owned shipping company PT Djakarta Lloyd, which was once close to bankruptcy, is aiming to pocket around Rp 380 billion (US$31.8 million) from its coal shipping business next year with the signing of five-year shipping contracts with private mining firms PT Adaro Indonesia and PT Berau Coal.

Djakarta Lloyd president director Arham S. Torik said on Tuesday that his firm expected to sign deals with Adaro Indonesia and Berau Coal next year to transport 550,000 metric tons (MT) of coal and 350,00 MT of coal, respectively, to non-state power plant owned by PT Sumber Segara Primadaya (S2P) in Cilacap, Central Java.

'€œTalks with the two are still ongoing but we expect to close the deals soon. We haven'€™t agreed on prices yet, but usually we get Rp 200,000 per MT,'€ he said.

Under the calculation, Djakarta Lloyd will reap Rp 110 billion in revenue from Adaro and Rp 70 billion from Berau if the deals are reached.

Arham said that in a trial period, Djakarta Lloyd had secured a deal to transport Adaro'€™s coal to S2P for the period of October to December this year, with a total capacity of 40,000 MT each month.

The firm previously signed an agreement with state-owned electricity company PT PLN to transport the latter'€™s 1 million MT of coal every year from 2012 onward to a number of its power plants.

PLN coal division head Helmi Najamuddin said that demand for electricity had grown 9.4 percent per year with 62 percent of electricity generated from coal.

'€œWe need 72 million tons of coal for our power plants this year and we predict that we will need 100 million tons in 2017,'€ he said.

Arham said that Djakarta Lloyd currently operated its coal shipping business with three vessels, one of which was fully owned while the other two were rented through operational cooperation.

'€œWe also have eight barges to transport the coal. We will also charter more vessels in the future if it is necessary,'€ he said.

Djakarta Lloyd'€™s coal shipping business contributed to more than 90 percent of its total revenue, Arham said.

Established in 1950, Djakarta Lloyd was previously considered a dead company with Rp 3.6 trillion in total debt to 226 debtors.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan had earlier planned to cease operation of the company. However, since undergoing financial restructuring, the company has seen revenue gains.