The Indonesian government is planning to develop a sea corridor of six connected domestic ports to improve trade flow through the country and reduce logistics costs.
The program, called Pendulum Nusantara (Pendulum of the Archipelago), will link the seaports of Belawan, Batam, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak Surabaya, Makassar, and Sorong into a single sea corridor.
A “mother ship” will travel regularly through the main seaports, which will serve as a hub, according to Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono in an online report by the Jakarta Globe.
“It will move like a pendulum from one port to another and the schedule for smaller vessels will be built around the mother ship’s,” he added.
Under the plan, the government will first develop existing ports including increasing the depths of the ports of Belawan and Makassar so they can handle ships with capacities of 3,000 20-foot equivalent units. The first phase will have an allocation of IDR1.5 trillion (US$159 million).
Then new ports in Batam and Sorong will be constructed at a cost of IDR10 trillion each, while Jakarta’s second international port, New Priok, will be built with funds amounting to IDR20 trillion.
The government also intends to improve the soft infrastructure around these ports including the implementation of Inaportnet, an online system for facilitating imports and exports, in line with the country’s National Single Window Policy.
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