JAKARTA: Samudera Indonesia, a listed shipping company, is setting aside up to $320 million to develop new ports and improve existing ports in a bid to grow its terminal business, Samudera Terminal Indonesia, over the next five years.
First established in 1964 as a shipping agency, Samudera Indonesia now operates four main businesses: logistics, shipping, terminal and agency. The company’s shipping business is the largest contributor to its revenue at 40 percent, while logistics and terminal services contribute 14 percent and 13 percent each.
“We want to depend less on shipping. The challenge is that developing terminals requires a long-term investment,” Prabowo Santoso, director at Samudera Indonesia, told GlobeAsia in Jakarta on Tuesday.
According to Prabowo, the company is currently increasing the capacity of its terminal in Palaran, Samarinda, this year to 330,000 TEUs from 220,000 TEUs that is set to cost about Rp 100 billion ($7.5 million).
“Hopefully, that will be completed by this October,” he said, adding that the company also plans to start building a new terminal at the same location next year. The new terminal is estimated to cost around Rp 600 billion to Rp 700 billion, Prabowo said.
Ridwan Hamid, another director at the company, added that Samudera Indonesia aims to operate new terminals in Batam, Riau Islands; Dumai, Riau and Pontianak, West Kalimantan, within the next two years, allocating up to $160 million in investment.
The company is also planning to increase the capacity of its three terminals in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, as well as adding more terminals, according to Ridwan. However, both Ridwan and Prabowo declined to disclose specific details of the plan.
