Pelni eyes short-sea shipping service operation

JAKARTA. State-owned shipping firm PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni) is eyeing the opportunity of operating a route as part of the Transportation Ministry’s upcoming short-sea shipping policy, as the company is trying to find ways to compensate for its plunging passenger shipping business by boosting revenue from its cargo business.

Pelni’s operations director, Setyabudi, said on Monday that the firm had filed a proposal with the ministry to operate the short-sea shipping service or inter-island sea transportation service from Jakarta to East Java to help reduce congestion and road damage along Java’s northern coastal highway (Pantura).

“Our vessels could be used as an initial pilot for the short-sea shipping service should the ministry aim to procure new ships to support the policy,” Setyabudi told reporters on the sidelines of Pelni’s 62nd anniversary celebration.

Setyabudi said that Pelni’s modified ship Ceremai was able to transport 67 containers, 12 trucks, 46 cars, 300 motorcycles and more than 1,300 passengers per voyage from Jakarta to East Java.

“If the ship could serve 87 voyages per year then, based on our calculations, the cost to operate the ship would reach around Rp 145 billion (US$12.5 million) per year, which is much more efficient than the cost of maintaining Pantura, which reaches more than Rp 1 trillion per year,” he said.

As well as reducing congestion along Pantura, the ministry plans to implement the policy next year to help decrease the country’s logistical costs and also improve maritime industry.

Indonesia’s logistical costs account for 27 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), significantly higher than its regional peers, such as Thailand (20 percent), Malaysia (13 percent) and Singapore (8 percent), according to data from the State of Logistics Indonesia 2013 report.

The ministry also plans to improve seaport infrastructure to encourage inter-island sea transportation. 

According to its medium-term road map for 2015-2019, the ministry will earmark at least $12.4 billion for additional investment to improve seaport infrastructure in Indonesia.

However, Setyabudi said that Pelni had not yet been tasked with serving the coastal shipping service.

“By the time we are tasked [with the project], we will be ready to support it because we believe that Indonesia’s domestic connectivity should be fully ready ahead of the implementation of regional connectivity,” he said.

Amid the emergence of budget airlines, Pelni has suffered from a decline in passengers. 

The firm is now trying to increase the contribution of cargo to its business to 50 percent this year, up from only 30 percent last year, in order to continue operating.

The firm booked a Rp 630 billion loss last year, as increasing fuel prices and the depreciation of the rupiah against the US dollar squeezed its revenue.