Pelindo II books 42 percent revenue growth in Q1

JAKARTA. State-owned port operator the Indonesian Port Corporation (IPC), otherwise known as Pelindo II, recorded a 42 percent increase in revenues to Rp 1.26 trillion (US$136.08 million) in the first quarter of this year thanks to an increase in traffic at the 12 ports managed by the company across the country.

In the first three months, the company posted Rp 513 billion in net profits, or up by 46 percent from Rp 351 billion in the same period last year.

“Container traffic at our largest port, Tanjung Priok, rose 13.6 percent to 1.4 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first quarter this year. We will invest more to help energize the trade,” president director Richard Joost Lino said.

Lino said that this year alone IPC’s expenditure on improving all of its 12 ports would reach Rp 4.3 trillion.

During the first semester, they spent Rp 357 billion or equal to 8.3 percent of the total investment in projects such as adding more gantry luffing cranes and a container terminal in Tanjung Priok, improving Pontianak Port in West Kalimantan, constructing a coal stock pile container in Jambi Port and dredging Bengkulu Port.

“We’ve invested a lot to improve port facilities and services that will help the country reduce its logistics costs,” he added.

According to the Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI), Indonesia’s logistics costs are between 25 and 30 percent of GDP, among the highest of any Southeast Asian country.

That figure is higher than in Thailand and Singapore, which stand at 16 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The 2010 World Bank Logistics Performance Index also ranked Indonesia 75th of 155 countries surveyed, far behind Malaysia (29th), Thailand (35th), the Philippines (44th) and Vietnam (53rd).

In addition, IPC is planning to construct the country’s biggest industrial port, Kalibaru, or New Priok, this year after receiving the presidential decree last month. (The Jakarta Post)

New Priok Port will have a total capacity of 13 million TEUs and will be constructed in three phases, in which the first phase will absorb an estimated Rp 22.6 trillion of investment.

In the first phase, the company is going to develop three container terminals and two fuel berths. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2014.

The construction of the entire port, including its nine terminals, was expected to finish in 2023,
Lino said.

Last year, IPC booked Rp 4.46 trillion in revenues, a 48 percent increase from Rp 3.01 trillion in 2010 while their net profits rose 33 percent from Rp 1.25 trillion to Rp 1.6 trillion in 2011.