Car terminal expansion project on track

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Sat, 03/21/2009 1:04 PM

Going up in the world: Busy cranes and ships at the Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta. On Friday state port operator PT Pelindo II said that despite a gloomy forecast outlook for Indonesia’s car industry, the construction work on the new extension to the car terminal at the Tanjung Priok port, under pressure for more space to be made available, is already 80 percent completed and the job is likely to be finished in April, one month ahead of schedule. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

Despite a gloomy outlook for Indonesia’s car industry amid the global economic downturn, the expansion of the car terminal at the Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta is not slowing down and is set for completion within the next two months now that almost 80 percent of the works are completed.

State seaport operator PT Pelindo II said it had finished 79.85 percent of the construction so far and may even finish all the project in April, a month earlier than the initial target.

“We are asked to expedite the construction, and our contractor Hutama Karya says it can finish its work by April,” Pelindo II president director Abdullah Saefuddin said when welcoming Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who was inspecting the progress of the construction of the new car terminal.

Kalla was accompanied by Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal, State Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Sofyan Djalil and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

Saefuddin said Pelindo II was expanding the area of the car terminal, which was first inaugurated on Nov. 29, 2007, by an additional 5 hectares.

Currently, the car terminal spans 12 hectares and can accommodate 3,500 cars. The 5-hectare addition will mean that it will be able to accommodate another 2,500 cars.

Saefuddin said Pelindo II was now even ready to start on the second phase of its expansion plan.

“We’re ready to start our second expansion project of 3.6 ha, located in Kali Baru,” he said.

“The Jakarta administration has started acquiring the land,” he said.

Pelindo II plans to eventually expand the car terminal up to 40 hectares, according to Saefuddin.

The expansion is necessary, he said, because car exports and imports through the Tanjung Priok port would continue to increase and would reach 550,000 units by 2011, since the current economic slowdown would only be temporary.

He said that the expansion was also on the specific request of Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, as well as other port users.

“Yard Occupancy Ratio stood at above 90 percent in the last three months,” Saefuddin said.

Through the port, 99,655 cars were exported and 88,435 cars were imported in 2008, while 15,358 cars were exported and 4,294 cars were imported from the beginning of the year to last Monday, according to Pelindo II data.

The automotive industry is facing hard times amid the global economic downturn, which has severely hit global demand and forced giant global car makers to shut down and layoff, or even dismiss, their workers.

According to Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) data, car sales reached 66,136 in the first two months this year, a drop of 25.6 percent from 88,887 recorded in the same period last year.

Gaikindo vice chairman Johnny Darmawan had forecast that car sales will plunge 26.1 percent in the first quarter this year, compared to the same quarter last year.