Exploring Ports 2023: Pelindo's productivity increases
This article has been translated by PwC Indonesia as part of our Indonesia Infrastructure News Service. PwC Indonesia has not checked the accuracy of, and accepts no responsibility for the content.
Bisnis Indonesia - Jelajah pelabuhan 2023: Produktivitas Pelindo meningkat
16 October 2023
By: Loreno A. Mahardhika & Hendra Wibawa
Jakarta - PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Persero) logged an increase in productivity at several container ports after the merger of the four port state-owned enterprises (SOEs) more than 2 years ago.
President Director of PT Pelindo Terminal Petikemas, a subholding of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia, Muhammad Adji explained that the productivity increase was stated by a shipping company that is a regular customer of the SOE.
“The level of service [of the shipping company] is weekly service. Weekly service will certainly [provide a positive impact]. It is the effect of Pelindo’s transformation,” he said to Bisnis last weekend.
For example, he mentioned that shipping from Belawan Port in Medan to Jayapura Port took 36 days. Previously, before the container terminal service standardisation, shipping from Belawan to Jayapura took 42 days. “It is what Pelindo customers receive after Pelindo’s transformation,” he said.
Adji said that logistics costs were high in Indonesia due to the disparity between eastern and western Indonesia.
In 2020, he logged that there were seven strategic ports in eastern Indonesia, namely Bitung, Makassar, Biak, Ambon, Sorong, Jayapura, and Kupang, that unloaded 13.8 million tonnes of cargo from domestic shipping. On the contrary, the seven ports only loaded 6.2 million tonnes of cargo.
When they return from the east, ships from Jakarta and Surabaya are only 30% loaded or even empty.
Since the merger on 1 October 2021, Pelindo has been transforming several ports in Indonesia, including ports in eastern Indonesia such as Makassar, Ambon, and Sorong.
Since September 2023, PT Pelindo has been managing Ternato Port (North Maluku), Merauke Port (South Papua), Nunukan Port (East Kalimantan), and Tarakan Port (North Kalimantan).
Adji also revealed that Pelindo Terminal Petikemas was assigned to standardise 17 container terminals to implement Pelindo’s transformation.
After nearly two years of port transformation, he added that the speed of stevedoring activities that are measured based on box ship per hour (BSH) and ship berthing time is increasingly faster.
Overall, Pelindo Regional 4 Head Enriany Muis added that transformation in her region has been carried out at 13 ports and terminals.
Hence, stevedoring productivity at Makassar Container Terminal (TPK) and Ambon TPK increased from an average of 35 boxes per hour per ship to an average of 50 boxes per hour per ship.
It also affects ship port stay time from two days to only one day.
Enriany added the increase in stevedoring productivity also occurred in dry bulk activities at Makassar Port as to unload 40,000 tonnes of cargo, which previously took 12-13 days, currently only takes six days. Makassar now has three harbour mobile cranes (HMCs).
“We have also opened a new traffic flow for bulk activities by using Gate 4 at Makassar Container Terminal 1,” she said during a press conference.
Operating pattern
The transformation process implemented at PT Pelindo (Persero) ports covers standardisation of operating pattern and worker skills, digitalisation through various applications, as well as planning and control of the implementation of ship services, cargo services, and container services through an integrated control room.
For example, the operating pattern at all ports in Regional 4 is currently 24/7. Before the transformation, each port or terminal has their own pattern.
The Transformation also improved the performance of Pelindo Regional 4 in the first half of 2023 as ship visits reached 208.9 million GT, which increased by 11% from 188.4 million GT in the first half of 2022. Cargo traffic reached 21.5 million tonnes/m3, which increased by 57% from 13.7 million tonnes/m3.
The number of containers unloaded in the first half of 2023 reached 1.07 million TEUs, which increased by 1% from 1.06 million TEUs in the previous year.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga said that national development was still focused on western Indonesia. Hence, cargo traffic in eastern and western Indonesia is not balanced.
