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tate-owned port operator Pelindo II, which manages 10 seaports including the largest port in Jakarta, Tanjung Priok, reported a positive performance during the first quarter of 2013 with revenue and net profits rising significantly.

Pelindo II, also known as the Indonesian Port Corporation (IPC), saw its revenue grow by 24 percent to Rp 1.57 trillion (US$161.39 million) between January and March this year. The company attributed the growth to higher traffic at all its ports, especially Tanjung Priok Port, which is the country's main gateway.

According to IPC corporate secretary Yan Budi Santoso, the company made several changes to Tanjung Priok Port last year to increase efficiency and its container handling capacity, which included removing several offices from the port's complex.

'We removed offices and warehouses that had nothing to do with the port and used the new space as an additional loading area. We managed to increase container handling capacity by around 1 million to 2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). At the moment, the port has capacity for 7 million TEUs,' he said on Monday.

Besides Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, the IPC also manages Teluk Bayur Port in West Sumatra; Jambi Port in Jambi; Panjang Port in Lampung; Pangkalan Batam Port in Bangka Belitung, and Pontianak Port in West Kalimantan.

With the changes, the IPC's net profits during the first quarter of 2013 jumped 76.6 percent to Rp 893.9 billion.

The IPC has allocated Rp 7 trillion for this year's capital expenditure (capex) budget. A large chunk of that budget, Rp 5 trillion, is being set aside for the development of Kalibaru Port in North Jakarta. Kalibaru, which is being touted as the new Priok, is designed to be Indonesia's largest industrial port with a total capacity of 13 million TEUs.

IPC president director Richard Joost Lino said that 18 firms were competing for the tender for the two new terminals in Kalibaru. The appointed operators will have to invest between $200 million and $350 million on average for each terminal for the superstructure and equipment.

'We are offering them [tender participants] a 49 percent share in the terminals. They have to deposit the equity with us and we will pay them in dividends,' he said, adding that the IPC would announce the tender's result in September.

To support its business, the IPC plans to establish a total of 22 subsidiaries by 2014. So far, it has eight subsidiaries and is planning to form six more this year. 'They will run our existing businesses, which range from marine services to bulk terminals. With these subsidiaries, the IPC ' as a state-owned enterprise ' will be more flexible in its operations,' Lino added.

He confirmed that two of the subsidiaries, PT Pengembang Pelabuhan Indonesia (PPI) and PT Multi Terminal Indonesia (MTI), would soon be going public. The PPI, the operator of Kalibaru Port, will release its shares to the public after the first Kalibaru terminal is completed.

Meanwhile, the MTI is expected to go public in 2014. Before listing its shares, the firm will first sell debt papers this year in an effort to generate Rp 200 billion to finance its operations.