Tanjung Priok port, the biggest seaport in Indonesia, is preparing to become a hub port for Asia, following upgrades to its two major container terminals that allow them to harbor bigger ships and handle a greater number of containers.
Tanjung Priok port, operated by state-controlled port operator Pelindo II, is now capable of harboring ships with throughput capacity of up to 5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs).
In February, Jakarta International Container Terminal, the operator of the biggest container terminal at the port, harbored a ship from shipping company Maersk Line with a total of capacity of 5,000 TEUs.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings owns 51 percent of JICT, and Pelindo II and its affiliate own the rest.
Successfully harboring that ship was followed by Terminal Petikemas (TPK) Koja, another joint venture container terminal operator that Hutchison has a stake in, which harbored a ship of similar size from Orient Overseas Container Line, a large Hong Kong shipping company. OOCL entrusted Koja to handle its weekly loading and unloading activity.
Richard Lino, the president director of Pelindo II, and Arif Isnawan, general manager at TPK Koja, said the decision by big shipping companies to use their services was evidence that they are ready to compete internationally.
“This is proof that Tanjung Priok port is ready to offer services of international standard and is truly prepared to become a regional port hub [to serve] a growing economy in Indonesia, Asia, as well as the rest of the world,” Richard Lino said in a statement on Tuesday.
JICT and TPK Koja have also increased their container-handling capacity.
JICT, which started operations in 1999, has increased the terminal handling capacity in Terminal I and the smaller Terminal II. In the past 13 years, the terminal handling capacity has increased to 2.4 million TEUs from 1.5 million TEUs. Further expansion is planned.
Similar development has also taken place at TPK Koja, despite it being constrained by a lack of available land. Hutchison is working on expanding the container terminal capacity at TPK Koja to 1 million TEUs by the end of next year from 850,000 TEUs currently.
TPK Koja in 2013 plans to extend its container yard area, add more gates and build more supporting operational facilities.
Meanwhile, an expansion plan for JICT is being constrained by a land dispute over a sacred memorial site in North Jakarta.
Stephen Ashworth, chief executive of Hutchison Ports Indonesia, a subsidiary of HPH, said the company’s $100 million plan to reduce truck congestion at the port had been hampered by its inability to acquire land long claimed by the heirs of Mbah Priok, an 18th century Muslim scholar whose former tomb is considered sacred by his followers.
Source: Investor Daily