JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said large ships will be able to berth at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok port after continued improvements in services by the port operator.
“Soon or next week there will be ship measuring 10,000 TEUS to call at Tanjung Priok,” Jokowi said when officially commissioning an access toll road to the country’s largest port on Saturday.
Dwelling time, the time needed for unloading, at Tanjung Priok has been reduced to around 3.5 days from normally up to six days discouraging ships from berthing at the port. The president himself had to step in to improve services, cut the red tape and simplify all procedures that reduce illegal levies rampant at the ports.
The president said he hoped improvement in the port service would make Indonesia more competitive and the seas transport cost would be cheaper to and from Indonesia as large cargo ships could sail directly to and berth at Tanjung Priok.
“The flows of goods could be much faster via Tanjung Priok. Transit is no longer needed for imported container cargoes in Singapore,” he said, adding large container ships could be berthed at Tanjung Priok.
Previously large ships carrying container goods fro Indonesia have to transit in Singapore to unload the cargo to be loaded gain on smaller ships as Tanjung Priok could not yet accommodate large container vessels.
The access road, which is part of the Jakarta outer ring road (JORR), would contribute to improving services at the port , Jokowi said, adding “This also helps improve the country’s competitiveness.”
He said an estimated 3,600 containers would be transported via the 11.4 kilometer access road everyday. Construction of the toll road that costed around Rp4.1 trillion had been long delayed after it began in 2003 before work started again in 2008 .
The delay was caused by difficulty in land clearing and structural mistake with 69 pillars had to be cut resulting in a delay of 5-6 years, the president, who was former Jakarta governor, said. The road provides access to sea and land transport including railway transport integrated at Tanjung Priok.
