Combination Of State Port Operators To Raise US$7 Billion

Jakarta, Oct 17 (Antara) - Merger of the four state port operators - could generate an income of up to US$7 billion a year, President of Pelindo II RJ Lino said. Lino said he assured President elect Joko Widodo (Jokowi) that combination of PT Pelindo I, Pelindo II, Pelindo III and Pelindo IV into Perusahaan Pelabuhan Indonesia could generate a huge fund that could be used for other purposes. The fund could be used to build 10 new ports and repair 20-25 existing ports, he said here on Thursday. "I told him (Jokowi) that we could raise fund without support from the government," he said on the sidelines of a discussion on `Transformation of Indonesian Maritime Concept`. Lino, who has been named head of a team for the combination of the four state port operators, said fund from the government to be appropriated for Pelindo could be used for other projects. He said development of new ports and repairs of the old ones would make Indonesia competitive and place the country level with other ASEAN countries. He said all ports in Indonesia could be promoted in level of services, in which "we are far lagging behind." In addition, the income of Perusahaan Pelabuhan Indonesia would contribute around 0.31 percentage point to the country`s economic growth. He said maintenance of ports must be integrated . Maintenance should not be focused only on one port such as Tanjung Priok, the country`s largest port. "Ships sail from one to other ports. It would not help if we repair only Tanjung Priok and we skip other ports like Belawan, Banjarmasin or Sorong ports," he said. In addition, combination of the port operators, would reduce the need for transhipment in the country before heading for the port of destination such as Singapore as loading and unloading of cargoes would be handled by Tanjung Priok. He said cargo transhipment in Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas of Malaysia, was already reduced from 65 percent to 20 percent in 2013. Only ships from the United States and a number of European countries still do the unloading and loading at Tanjung Priok, he said, adding those from France, Australia and Africa may no longer do transhipment directly at the port. He said for the time being ships from Surabaya and Semarang still make transhipment in Singapore and Tanjung Pulopas. Lino said he would offer a discount concept to attract all ships to make transshipment at Tanjung Priok. He said a discount would be offered in handling tariff for transhipment at Tanjung Priok for cargoes from Surabaya or Semarang, but therefore would be no discount if transhipment is in Singapore. . "With that system we hope to attract more customers as the cost would be cheaper," he said. The system, however, could work if the port operators are merged into one company , otherwise the system could hurt one of the operators." Withe the growing number of big ships needing unloading and loading more ships would enter Indonesian ports, he said. "Therefore, all four Pelindo should be merged into one," he said. He said when visiting Japan, Pelindo was granted a loan of US$1.25 billion from seven major banks and and 30 supporting banks. Meanwhile in Singapore there are 70 banks offer loan assistance, he added. "This indicates that our ports are highly potential and other countries are interested in them," he said.