HONG KONG: The Port of Rotterdam Authority has signed a partnership agreement with the Indonesian Port Corporation Pelindo I for the development of a new deep sea port at Kuala Tanjung.
Kuala Tanjung is in the North Sumatra city of Medan and is a key project in Indonesia’s national maritime strategy that involves the building of 35 ports across the vast archipelago in the next five years.
The Rotterdam authority will now carry out a feasibility study for the new port together with Pelindo I. A project organisation will be created for this purpose that will include a number of the port authority’s employees locally and based in Rotterdam. Whether Rotterdam enters into a joint venture with Pelindo I will depend on the outcome of the feasibility study.
After signing the agreement, Rotterdam Port Authority CEO Allard Castelein said the Dutch port wanted to share its knowledge in the construction, development and management of Kuala Tanjung. Rotterdam is the largest container port in Europe and certainly knows how to develop a major port, having reclaimed 2,000 hectares of ocean for its giant Maasvlakte 2 development.
“We are confident that the port authority and Pelindo I will form a strong team that will serve the country and provide for a better future,” Castelein said. Kuala Tanjung will be developed near the Malacca Strait port of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra that is the most populated province outside of Java. It forms part of Indonesia’s National Ports Masterplan that is a bold bid to bring down high logistics costs and stimulate economic growth in the Southeast Asian giant.
Almost 80 percent of the country’s containerised trade is handled in the terminals at Jakarta and Surabaya with virtually no international volumes making direct calls at ports in the east of the country.
