P

ublicly listed shipping firm Humpuss Intermoda Transportation has seen bleak business prospects this year with no new contracts possibly until next year, as the company is still working to diversify its business as the shipping industry slows down.

Humpuss Intermoda Transportation president director Theo Lekatompessy said his company was currently looking to diversify its business amid dwindling liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping '€” the company'€™s main revenue generator.

However, possible expansion plans might begin in the last quarter of this year, he added.

Theo said his company was looking to broaden its grip in the LNG industry, from only gas shipment to gas procurement, gas storing as well gas processing, thus boosting the revenue per ship, since formerly ships were only performing one function but under this new plan will be performing four functions at once.

Another possible project is to expand its bulk carrier business to support the government'€™s maritime highway project, which will also guarantee income from acquiring and selling sand.

Humpuss'€™ first target is to work on the Jakarta administration'€™s reclamation project, which includes developer Agung Podomoro Land'€™s Pluit City reclamation project.

'€œHowever, LNG diversification will depend on our tender project next year, while the bulk carrier project might only start in the fourth quarter of this year,'€ he said.

This situation leaves the company with idle second and third quarters.

Theo said that to date, the company had yet to secure any project tenders. The only tender the company is currently in is the state electricity company PLN'€™s tender to supply gas to independent power producers (IPP) across the country, valued at US$30 million to $50 million a year.

According to him, if Humpuss manages to secure the contract, the company will dominate around 70 percent of the LNG shipping market in the country.

The tender for the project, however, is still in its pre-qualification stage, and results will only be announced next year, leaving Humpuss with no concrete project to handle this year.

Humpuss, which is affiliated with former president Soeharto'€™s youngest son Hutomo '€œTommy'€ Mandala Putra, previously targeted to boost its revenue by around 51 percent from US$66 million last year, to $100 million this year.

Due to the country'€™s unfavorable macroeconomic conditions leading to a slower market, Theo said the company expected to see its top line up by only 10 percent.

Meanwhile, in a bid to expand its shipping terminal businesses, publicly listed shipping and logistics company Samudera Indonesia has said that it plans to start an initial public offering (IPO) for its subsidiary, Samudera Indonesia Terminal, the company'€™s holding for all its shipping terminal businesses.

Samudera Indonesia'€™s finance director, Ridwan Hamid, told reporters Tuesday that the IPO was expected to acquire capital needed to finance a $320 million terminal project to expand its four existing container terminals and the plan to build three others.

Two of the existing terminals are located at the Tanjung Priok seaport in Jakarta, while the other is in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Meanwhile, the three new terminals are planned for Batam, Dumai and Pontianak.

'€œ[Of the $320 million] $50 million is for Batam, $50 million for Dumai, $60 million for Pontianak and the rest is for the expansion of the existing terminals,'€ he said.

The IPO is a requirement imposed by the country'€™s tax office for the company to get a tax benefit for the terminal holding.

Prabowo Budi Santosa, a director at Samudera Indonesia, revealed that the company targeted to start building the terminals in Pontianak and Dumai by mid-2016. The company will be working with a local company in Pontianak to develop the Pontianak terminal and with Pertamina for the Dumai project.