Indonesia is building a new container port on the north coast of Java that is seen to spur economic activity on the island, improve logistics services, and relieve traffic in Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port and Surabaya’s Tanjung Perak Port.
Construction of the New Muara Hati Port is starting in October in the Cirebon district, located in the province of West Java near the border with Central Java, according to local media reports.
The port, an IDR1.75-trillion (US$131.6 million) project of state-owned port operator Pelindo II, is scheduled to become operational by 2017, with ongoing development for two more years.
There will also be new roads built to connect the port to the trans-Java toll road network.
The box port will sit on 16 hectares of land and have a capacity of 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. It is expected not only to accelerate trade activity in Java, but also cut Indonesia’s reliance on Singapore for deep-water port services, according to Pelindo II president director Richard Lino.
Thailand eyes new Chumphon port
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Marine Department is considering building a new port in the southern province of Chumphon to boost the logistics system in the area.
Director-General of the Marine Department Chula Sukmanop said a new port in Chumphon province would cut the water distance between East and South, according to a report by the National News Bureau of Thailand.
While Chumphon is about 700 kilometers by car to Laem Chabang Port in the eastern province of Chonburi, the sea route between the two cities is much shorter, making marine transport a cheaper option, said Chula.
Chula said that if Chumphon has its own port, goods from India, the Middle East, or Europe which are destined for Laem Chabang Port can be shipped to Ranong Port on the Andaman Sea and then transferred to the port in Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand, where the goods can be sent to Laem Chabang port far more easily.
The idea came after the Marine Department chief and the National Legislative Assembly’s committee in charge of transport paid a visit to the southern provinces of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, and Ranong early in the month to study the possibility of marine transport development in the area.
Photo: Midori
