The Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) has called on the government to postpone implementing a new shipping policy that will oblige coal and crude palm oil (CPO) exporters to ship their commodities using only domestic shipping companies and insurance services.

The policy is stipulated in Trade Minister Regulation No. 82/2017, which was issued last October and was to take effect at the end of April 2018.

As of today, APBI executive director Hendra Sinadia said, the government was still unable to guarantee the readiness of the country’s shipping industry, including the number of local vessels available for exporting coal.

“Such data should have been prepared before the regulation was issued. Hence, what we need now is for the government to revise the regulation [and] provide some certainty, especially for our foreign buyers,” Hendra said on Tuesday.

“Maybe it will take around a year or two years for the government to properly complete its data gathering before [it can] implement this kind of policy,” he added.

The Trade Ministry's data shows a total of 25,352 domestic vessels as of 2016, of which only 1.8 percent could be used to export coal.

Nearly 43 percent of the domestic fleet has been in operation for 16-25 years, while many countries apply age restrictions for foreign-flagged tankers entering their ports. (bbn)