Within walking distance of the Batam Center ferry port, which connects Indonesia and Singapore with a one-hour boat ride, the Mega Mall Batam Center looks a lot quieter than usual.

What used to be a view of cars competing to find parking spots is now a vacant lot. This is a favorite stopover for Singaporeans who visit Batam to buy what they need before going back home across the Singapore Strait.

However, the game changed at the end of January, when Singapore announced its first COVID-19 coronavirus case and embarked on an extensive public health emergency campaign, including travel restrictions and self-quarantine requirements after trips.

Shipowner representative Asmadi said four ferry operators serving the Batam-Singapore route had reduced their crossing numbers because of a severe drop in passengers. The same is apparent for ferry routes bound for Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

“Normally, for every trip, a ferry carries at least 50 people, now it’s only 20 people,” Asmadi, the chairman of the Indonesian National Shipowners Association’s (INSA) Batam chapter, told The Jakarta Post.

“All ferry operators are reducing their trips. Operational costs are high while the numbers of passengers have dropped drastically.”

Ferry operators in Batam on average make 30 trips daily between the city and Singapore, a number that was reduced to half on Wednesday. The ferries dock at the Batam Center international port, Sekupang international port, Batu Ampar Harbor Bay, Nongsa Point Marina and Marina City.

Singapore has so far detected 160 COVID-19 cases, of which 93 have been discharged, with no deaths. It is intensifying prevention, as well as testing and care efforts to avoid the further spread of the virus, including by restricting entry by visitors from China, South Korea, Iran and northern Italy.

If the conditions continues, in the next one or two months, ferry operators are likely to lay off some of their 1,000 workers, including ferry crews and their onshore staff.

“Layoffs are within sight, although until today [Wednesday], there has been no staff grounded or had their contract cut, but income has severely dropped,” said Asmadi.

Riau Islands, with more than 1,000 islands that host the city of Batam, places second for foreign tourist arrivals, after Bali. In 2019, Riau Islands attracted 2.59 million visitors, almost half of which (47 percent) are from Singapore. China comes in second, accounting for 10 percent of foreign tourist arrivals, with 260,000 people.

Batam contributed almost three quarters of Riau Islands' foreign tourist arrivals at 1.76 million, followed by Bintan at 575,000 and Tanjungpinang at 154,000.

With fewer people visiting Batam, workers like Melati, a therapist at First Choice spa, a massage and reflexology center in the dense city center of Batam, suffer the most disadvantages.

“My income depends on how many customers I serve. If it continues like this it will be difficult to survive,” said Melati, who can normally handle five to six customers daily, mostly Singaporeans.

She’s now lucky to serve one customer a day.

Her manager, Yanti Lie, said the spa, massage and reflexology center had been forced to cut salaries for non-therapist employees such as herself.

“We understand the situation. Our salaries were cut because there have been no customers. We have been dependent on Singaporean, Korean or Chinese tourists who enter from Singapore,” said Yanti.

The spa normally thrives on tourist groups that could bring30 to 50 customers at once.

“Now we are really counting on the locals. Even when we give 50 percent discounts ,there’s just no customers,” Yanti added.

There has been no official data released on how severely COVID-19 is affecting the economy of Batam, which is supported by the manufacturing industry and tourism, but there has been indication of a slowdown in the economy by way of a deflation recorded in February.

Riau Islands province in February saw 0.16 percent deflation on from January. That compares with a month-to-month nationwide inflation rate of 0.28 |percent and also with the province’s 0.18 percent inflation recorded in January. Airplane costs, chicken and red chili prices contributed to Riau Islands’ deflation in January.

Meanwhile, the electronics manufacturing industry may well be the last line of defense, but production has been disrupted by a suspension of raw material supplies from China since January.

Batam’s Batamindo Industrial Park general manager Mook Sooi Wah said half of the 68 factories in the industrial park depend on raw material from China.

“There are two options to consider: first, seek supply alternatives from other countries apart from China; second, stop operations. Looking for an alternative supply is not an easy and quick task to do,” Mook told the Post.

Raw materials used for production at the Batamindo Industrial Park come from various countries around the world, but China accounts for 70 percent.

A source at another industrial park said Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) has paid attention to the situation of Batam’s manufacturing industry, sending a letter to industrial parks asking for clarification and the options being considered to tackle the issues.

“Meanwhile, our government has yet to reach out about the problems we’re facing amid the coronavirus,” the source told the Post.

The government will soon launch another stimulus package to ensure a smooth supply of raw materials for the country’s manufacturing sector amid the widespread impacts of the coronavirus on the global market.

“Twenty to 30 percent of the raw materials for the country’s industries engaged in plastic, textile and steel production are sourced from China. For some other industries, the raw materials from China could reach 50 percent,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told the press at the State Palace in Jakarta on March 4. (est)

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