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ndonesia, along with China and India, is seen as an important player in the logistics and shipping business in Asia. Therefore, the Indonesian government needs to do more to improve investment in this sector.

Tommy Lui, vice president of the Li & Fung Group, said that China, India and Indonesia are among the Asian countries with the strongest economic growth.

“It [economic growth] offers a tremendous opportunity for the logistic companies around the world [to expand their businesses],” said Lui during his keynote speech at the Terminal Operators Conference (TOC) titled “Asia – The Road Ahead” in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Lui added that with economic growth, China, India and Indonesia have made a golden triangle that opens more opportunities for the smaller countries sandwiched within the area.

Furthermore, Lui said all countries in the region need to learn from China, which has implemented some policies set out in its five-year plan. Among the policies the Chinese government have implemented are upgrading the industry structure, diversifying urbanization and modernizing distribution.

According to Lui, the restructuring process in China has brought impacts on other Asian countries, especially significant changes in trade volume and patterns. Speaking about Indonesia, Lui said there have been several ports and container terminals in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, but there is potential for further development.

“Indonesia is not yet developed. There are not enough good warehouses. But the demand is huge,” he added.

Hapag-Lloyd managing director for Asia, Juan Manuel Gonzales, said the importance of Indonesia in global trade cannot be separated from its position as the country with the world’s fourth-largest population.

“Given the size of its population, Indonesia starts to take off [to play a pivotal role in global trade],” Gonzales added.

Commenting on the growing importance of the Asian market, Richard Joost Lino, president director of the state-own port operator Pelindo II, said that the company is expanding services by increasing its working hours and investing more in infrastructure development in its main gateway, the Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta.

Lino said improving efficiency in the seaport is a must. Otherwise, Pelindo II cannot compete against other companies offering similar services.

“The port is very crucial. Once we improve our services, we will see more trade and we will earn more income,” he said on the sidelines of the three-day conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.

Lino added that Pelindo II, which is now known as the Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC), recorded Rp 1.6 trillion (US$176 million) in net profits last year, a 33 percent increase from Rp 1.2 trillion in 2010 due to an increase in cargo traffic at the company’s ports.

He credited the increase in cargo traffic to improvements to facilities at the company’s 12 ports across the country, especially at Tanjung Priok.

According to Lino, the company has in the past few years spent nearly $250 million on new container loading cranes and a vessel traffic information system for Tanjung Priok and implemented a 24-hour port operation system.

The new facility and policy has enabled ships with a capacity of 5,000 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers to dock at Tanjung Priok. With the increase in the cargo traffic, the company managed to book a 41 percent increase in total revenues, climbing to Rp 5.12 trillion in 2011 from Rp 3.6 trillion in 2010.

In order to further improve handling capacities at its ports, Pelindo increased its investment by 36 percent to Rp 1.5 trillion in 2011 from Rp 1.1 trillion in 2010.