The 16,000-twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container ship Alexander Von Humboldt is owned by CMA CGM, a France-based global player in sea, land and air logistics, and is the first of three container ships of the same size to visit the JICT, a subsidiary of state-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo), both companies said in a joint statement on Monday.

Welcoming the 400-meter ship, were Transportation Ministry Sea Transportation Director General Arif Toha, CMA CGM Asia Pacific Ltd’s Laurent Olmeta, CMA CGM Indonesia president director John Lim, Pelindo president director Arif Suhartono, as well as representatives from related government agencies and businesses.

“The CMA CGM Group is delighted to make a difference to Indonesia’s maritime seascape with PELINDO and the JICT today. This milestone demonstrates our group’s commitment to enabling market connectivity and delivering service excellence as Jakarta further strengthens its position as an important international maritime port,” Olmeta said, as quoted by the statement.

The Alexander Von Humboldt is deployed on the CMA CGM Columbus JAX (JAX) service, which directly connects Jakarta and the US, the statement said.

“This development is designed to facilitate increased trade volumes between Indonesia and its second largest export market, which is forecasting double-digit export growth by the end of 2022.”

Meanwhile, Lim said that three of the 19 vessels on CMA CGM’s weekly JAX service would be 16,000-TEUs in size from Monday. “They will enable us to ship more optimally to and from Indonesia on each voyage. As a carrier of choice, we shall continue to invest in our assets, capabilities and people to serve in better ways,” he said in the statement.

CMA CGM’s operations in Indonesia started in 1995 and it now employs over 250 staff members across seven branch offices and owns four depots. The company currently offers seven maritime services with more than 50 port calls each week. Of these, four services including the JAX service call at JICT weekly.

Catering to more outbound cargoes on each voyage of the Indonesia-US direct service, the JAX service also offers a seamless connectivity to the US east and west coasts with a transition time of 34 days, improving the industry transit time.

The JAX service delivers local products and manufactured products such as paper, rubber, garments, footwear and electronic items from Indonesia to North America on a weekly basis.

"With the large CMA CGM vessel berthing at the JICT, it shows the commitment of the Pelindo Group to improving its port services. I hope that the arrival of this large vessel will further strengthen the connectivity of Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta with the international network of ports and provide a smooth flow of exports from and imports to Indonesia," said Pelindo’s Arif.

Earlier on Saturday, Lim told The Jakarta Post that the JAX line would link the JICT with Long Beach in California, the hub of container shipping on the US west coast.

“The direct line manages to cut travel time from between 40 and 50 days previously to just 34 days,” he said.

“Indonesian exporters now can send their products to Jakarta to be shipped weekly to the US. They no longer need to send their containers to any third country.”

When asked whether there would be enough demand for such a large container ship, Lim was upbeat that more and more exporters would use the direct service.

“In fact, we have even bigger container ships but we are limited by Tanjung Priok Port’s draft. Nevertheless, the Alexander von Humboldt is the largest container ship to ever visit Indonesia,” he told the Post.