Four state-owned port operators in Indonesia have established a joint venture to provide coordinated domestic cargo-handling services and thus reduce local logistics costs as inter-island trade in the world’s largest archipelago grows, the Jakarta Globe reports.
Pelindo I, II, III, and IV will each have a 25 percent stake in Terminal Petikemas Indonesia, which is envisioned to boost coordination and cooperation among the seaport operators in handling local cargo movements.
Arif Suhartono has been appointed president director of the new joint venture, and Djarwo Surjanto is the president commissioner.
The venture will provide container-handling and related services to help make more equitable the logistics costs between the eastern and western part of Indonesia as the government proceeds with its Nusantara Pendulum program creating a national sea corridor.
The government has allocated IDR1.5 trillion for the first phase of the pendulum program, up for implementation next year.
It is a sea freight transport system that aims to cut logistics costs by improving the movement of goods along the country’s waterways through the creation of a single sea corridor. The corridor will have six seaports—Belawan, Batam, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak, Makassar and Sorong—as the main gateways for shipping activity.
A “mother ship” would travel regularly through the main seaports “like a pendulum,” with the schedule of the smaller vessels built around its movements.
Poor infrastructure is a major factor for the high transportation costs in the country, posing a stumbling block to its economic potential and increasing the development gap among provinces.
Photo courtesy of Indonesia Port Corporation
