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tate-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia I (Pelindo I) is set to cooperate with Port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe, to develop the much-anticipated Kuala Tanjung Port in North Sumatra.

Pelindo I spokesperson Muhammad Eriansyah said that Port of Rotterdam Authority had agreed to provide consultancy services to the Kuala Tanjung Port operator on service management.

'€œPort of Rotterdam will provide consultancy services to help us develop Kuala Tanjung to meet international quality standards,'€ Eriansyah told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The agreement was signed by Pelindo I president director Bambang Eka Cahyana and Roger Clasquin, the director of Port of Rotterdam International, in Den Haag last week.

Bambang said in a written statement that construction of Kuala Tanjung Port was aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the country'€™s logistics sector during the ASEAN Economic Community, which is set to open by the end of 2015, as well as supporting the incoming government'€™s sea highway program.

The port has been designated as the international hub for the western part of the country while Bitung in Sulawesi for the eastern part of the archipelago, according to the 2010-2025 National Logistics Blueprint (Sislognas).

Kuala Tanjung, which is part of the central government'€™s Masterplan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI), is expected to begin operations 18 months after the groundbreaking.

Eriansyah said Pelindo I was waiting for Environmental Impact Analysis Documents (Amdal) from the Environment Ministry so that it could begin construction.

'€œSince we are still waiting for the documents, we might not be able to start construction by the end of this year, as stated in our Masterplan. Hopefully, we can break ground by early next year,'€ he said.

Earlier this month, Pelindo I formed a joint venture, PT Prima Multi Terminal, with publicly listed state construction firms PT Pembangunan Perumahan (PTPP) and PT Waskita Karya for the construction of Kuala Tanjung.

Pelindo I controls a 55 percent stake in the joint venture, worth Rp 97.5 billion, while PTPP and Waskita control 30 percent (Rp 52.2 billion) and 15 percent (Rp 26.1 billion), respectively.

Pelindo I was planning to build a terminal to accommodate crude palm oil (CPO) produced by state-run plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) III in the first phase, Eriansyah said. The firm, through Prima Multi, will spend Rp 1 trillion (US$82.7 million) to construct the first terminal.

During its visit to Den Haag, the port operator also formed a joint venture with Dutch companies Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV to develop a shipping channel for Belawan Port in North Sumatra, in which Pelindo I holds the majority of shares.

As reported, the port operator has secured a 70 year concession to operate the Belawan International Container Terminal (BICT).

The Rp 2.6 trillion expansion project at the country'€™s third-largest port is aimed at increasing its terminal capacity from the current 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 2.2 million TEUs per year, or an 83 percent increase.

The draft of the port would also be deepened to 17 meters to allow ships with a capacity of 5,000 TEUs to enter.