Rp 1t Port Planned for Remote West Papua

Jakarta Globe, Faisal Maliki Baskoro, July 26, 2011

The proposed $118 million West Pacific Port in West Papua
would have  a capacity 30 times greater than the existing
Sorong Port. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

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State port operator Pelindo II plans to start building a new port in Sorong, West Papua, as soon as next year, as part of government efforts to reduce logistical and shipping costs to the remote eastern region.

Richard Joost Lino, president director of Pelindo II, said on Tuesday that the company had formed a consortium with major shippers including Samudera Indonesia, Meratus Line, Salam Pacific Indonesia Lines, and Temas Line to build the port, which will cost Rp 1 trillion ($118 million).

“Pelindo will act as the leader in the consortium, and we will contribute 30 percent [of the cost],” he said. “We will put the project up for tender [for contractors] later this year while construction will start early next year.”

West Pacific Port, which will replace the existing Sorong Port, will be able to handle 750,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) once it is completed in 2013, Richard said.

Sorong Port can handle 25,000 TEUs, while cargo traffic to the region averages 700,000 TEUs a year, he said.

West Pacific Port, Richard added, would also serve as a regional port for traffic to and from Papua New Guinea and the Bismark Islands, East Timor, Darwin in Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The new port is also expected to halve distribution costs to Papua, he said.

Pelindo II operates 12 seaports across the archipelago, including the busiest, Tanjung Priok, in North Jakarta.

Analysts have said that Indonesia must boost the development of infrastructure such as roads, airports and seaports to create more jobs and achieve its target of 7 percent economic growth by 2014.

Juniman, an economist at Bank Internasional Indonesia in Jakarta, said the government’s plan to build the port in Papua was the right move to reduce bottlenecks in shipping.

“The project will help create jobs and boost economic growth,’’ he added.

Pelindo II is also bidding on the rights to operate a new port in Jakarta.

It signed a Rp 11 trillion loan with Bank Mandiri, the country’s largest lender, on Tuesday. That standby loan would be used to finance the first phase of its North Kalibaru Port project in North Jakarta, if Pelindo were to win the rights to build the port.

The Transportation Ministry has not yet closed the tender for the project, which will cost an estimated Rp 20 trillion.

“The new port is vital because the busiest port in Indonesia will exceed maximum capacity this year, and this will cause higher logistic costs and longer loading and unloading times,” Richard said.

North Kalibaru Port would add between 4 million and 6.5 million TEUs of cargo capacity to Tanjung Priok Port — which has a maximum capacity of 5 million TEUs.

Richard said the North Kalibaru facility, which would span 3.5 square kilometers and include an oil and gas terminal, could be completed in 2017.

Pelindo posted a 30 percent increase in profit last year to Rp 1.2 trillion and, according to Richard, is on track to meet its target of Rp 1.6 trillion in profit this year.

Fluidcon to export road blockers to Middle East

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Fluidcon Jaya, a consulting company for the mining, and oil and gas industries, as well as manufacturer of road blockers and oil and gas-related equipment, is set to export its latest product to several countries next year.

"We will send two high security system road blockers to a company in Iraq this month. Then, we will send 10 more road blockers there early next year," Fluidcon business development manager Widiantoro Nugroho said Saturday.

In addition, he said, the company would also export 27 road blockers to Thailand in 2008, with Afghanistan and Pakistan also being promising markets.

"We will focus on the international market, especially nations in the Middle East, as we know there is major demands for high security systems in that region," Widiantoro explained.

The company sees big potentials in the domestic market for its road blockers.

"There are many potential market segments here that we can avail of, such as embassies and airports," Widiantoro said. "So far, we've held talks with hotels in Bali about the installation of our security systems."

According to Widiantoro, the 2-5-meter-long road blockers are able to block vehicles weighing up to 20 tons at speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour.

Road blockers, which cost between US$30,000 and $35,000, can be integrated with several other security systems, including finger-print scanning equipment and closed-circuit television, or CCTV.(ndr)

Lampung exports 249,728 tons of non-oil commodities to Pakistan

Bandarlampung, Lampung Province (ANTARA News) - Lampung province exported at least 249,728 tons of non-oil/non-gas commodities to Pakistan from January to July 2007, a local official said.

Lampung earned a total of US$20,360 in foreign exchange from the exports, Suparmo of the Lampung trade, industry and cooperatives office said here.

The exports had increased by 91.43 percent in value and by 93.05 tons in volume compared to the figures on the same period last year, he said.

Lampung exported among other things coal and sodium cyclamate to Pakistan. PT Bukit Asam Mining Company (PTBA) exported 37,873 tons of coal worth US$1.7 million, while PT Golden Sari exported sodium cyclamate amounting to 227 tons worth US$557,250 to Pakistan last July alone.

In addition to Pakistan, Lampung also exports non-oil/non-gas commodiies to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal, he said.