The government is evaluating 50 percent of sea toll transportation tenders.
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Kompas/Fransiskus Pati Herin
Goods are loaded onto a motorboat on Sunday (28/1) for distribution using the sea toll route from Saumlaki City to Selaru Island in West Maluku Tenggara regency, Maluku. Although the goods were transported under the sea toll program, their prices remain high.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government is evaluating 50 percent of sea toll transportation tenders. In the future, the tenders will no longer be on transportation, but on container volume, which will be adjusted according to the needs of the destination ports. With this approach, it is believed that efficiency will increase by 30 percent from the previous method.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi made the statement on Monday (5/2) at the Presidential Office in Jakarta. According to Budi, through this measure, the government will no longer need to bear the costs of the vessels’ return journeys.
”Therefore, if we want to send goods and it is based on transportation, we have to pay for the content. But (in the future), we will determine the number of cities [destinations] and their needs – 100 containers, 200 containers, 50 containers, we will send them according to the volume [the needs]," Budi said.
This measure was taken because, according to Budi, the return cargo has not been maximal. He further said efficiency would improve with about a 30 percent increase in the frequency of sea toll journeys. For example, if the vessels made port once every two weeks, the vessels would be able to increase their shipping frequency to once every 10 days.
The Transportation Ministry is also strengthening its coordination with state-owned operators. The commodities at the focus of the sea toll distribution are rice, sugar, fertilizer, cement and cooking oil, as these commodities were easy to control. In connection with this, it was important to maximize the role of state-owned enterprises, such as Perum Bulog and PT Semen Indonesia.
Role of regional governments
On the same occasion, the Transportation Minister called for the active role of regional governments in facilitating the sea toll program. While cargo ships had visited an number of registered ports, regional commodity products were still minimal. However, he was reluctant to comment further on the issue, as it was beyond his authority.
Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko admitted that the implementation of sea tolls still faced problems, with solutions still being sought for a number of obstacles. Those that needed immediate attention included the availability of ships and ports, and more importantly, the lack of regional commodities. "This causes shipping costs to skyrocket," Moeldoko said.
The quantity of return cargo by sea toll routes from a number of eastern regions to Java was minimal. The regional governments had strived to encourage the distribution of various regional commodities using the sea toll facility. The sea toll supply chain, which is shorter and subsidized by the central government, was expected to benefit the marketing of regional commodities.
Wakatobi Industry and Trade Office head Safiuddin said on Monday in Southeast Sulawesi that his office would familiarize commodity wholesalers in the regions with the sea toll program. The sea toll vessels had used the Surabaya-Wanci-Namlea route since March 2016 to make port in Wanci, the capital city of Wakatobi.
Wholesalers of superior commodities in Wakatobi, such as cloves, copra and fish, would also be encouraged to meet with their buyers on Java. Safiuddin said that this was expected to establish direct trade along the Wakatobi-Surabaya sea toll. Thus far, commodities from Wakatobi had been sent to Surabaya through Baubau.
Puspawati, head of the Trade Development and Basic and Important Commodity Stabilization division at the Wakatobi Trade and Industry Office, said only six containers of cargo were shipped from Wanci to Surabaya each trip, when the vessels could transport up to 50 containers.
PT Arta Mina Jaya, a fishing company in Wakatobi, is one company that has used the sea toll route. Arta Mina Jaya manager Muhsin said that the sea toll costs for shipping to Surabaya was Rp 16 million per container using cold storage vessels. With private shipping, the distribution costs would be Rp 32 million per container.
The program, Muhsin said, thus helpe reduce logistics costs. With decreased costs, Muhsin said Arta Mina Jaya could raise the prices for purchasing the goods directly from fishermen. "For example, we now buy tuna from fishermen at Rp 60,000-Rp 70,000 per kilogram. Before the the sea toll program, the buying price was Rp 50,000-Rp 60,000 per kilogram. The highest increase is in the price of lamadang fish [mahi-mahi]. From only Rp 4,000 per kilogram, now we buy it at Rp 14,000 per kilogram," Muhsin said.
Maritime transportation expert Marcus Tukan of Ambon’s Pattimura University said that the sea toll program needed to be accompanied by investment development policies in target regions as a long-term effort to get rid of the gap in commodity prices.
