S

tate seaport operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) II will set up nine subsidiaries to improve efficiency at its operations to help accelerate infrastructure development necessary to handle surging export and import activities.

Pelindo II president director RJ Lino said Friday that the subsidiaries were planned to be gradually established beginning from the first quarter of 2012.

“As a state operator, we need to compete with private firms and therefore we must have the tools that enable us to specialize in one service and become more professional,” he told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

The prevailing shipping law issued in May 2008 shifted the roles of Pelindo II and other similar state-owned port operators from both port authorities and port operators to only port operator.

Lino added that the specialized subsidiaries would decentralize the decision-making process within his firm, while at the same time allowing it to expand in various locations under its management.

The nine subsidiaries will focus on, among others, construction and development projects, marine services, information and communication technology-based logistics, and bulk terminal management.

“Through our subsidiary, assisted by information and communication technology, we will be able to speed up document processing and simplify the payment scheme, making the entire process in the port much more efficient,” he explained.

Another subsidiary working at the property would help Pelindo II to develop terminals, including the long-delayed seaport project in Kalibaru Utara, North Jakarta, Lino said.

In June, Pelindo II reportedly obtained a right to match the best bidder in the development of the Kalibaru port, estimated to cost Rp 11.75 trillion (US$1.37 billion) in the early phase and Rp 22 trillion in overall investment as compensation for its proposal to develop the terminal.

In anticipation of project implementation, Pelindo II last month signed a memorandum of understanding with state lender Bank Mandiri for $1.28 billion in loans for the first phase of the project which are planned to run from 2012 to 2015.

“We are upbeat we will win the project. We are financially ready and plan to team up with some big shipping companies that can bring large ships into Indonesia to reduce the logistics costs of our exports and imports,” Lino said, citing the world’s largest container shipping company Maersk Line as one of the possible firms to team up with Pelindo II.

The Transportation Ministry is currently in the process of reviewing seven consortiums participating in the prequalification of the port development bid, including Port Singapore Authority, which partners with PT Pelabuhan Socah Madura and Maersk Line and has teamed up with PT Pelayaran Bintang Putih. The announcement is expected by the end of the month.

Based in Jakarta, Pelindo II manages ports in 12 areas in the western part of the country, including Teluk Bayur in West Sumatra, Palembang, in South Sumatra and Tanjung Priok and Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta.

During the first half of this year, Pelindo’s net profit jumped by 136.57 percent to Rp 970 billion from the corresponding period last year. It aims to book a total of Rp 1.74 trillion in net profit by year-end.