Indonesia's Tanjung Priok Port Needs Feeder Ports in East Jakarta
Research institution Supply Chain Indonesia, which mainly focuses on logistics matters, requests the government to reevaluate its plan to use three ports in Banten (West Java) to take over some of the workload of Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port, Indonesia's largest seaport. Due to inefficiencies at Tanjung Priok, which handles about two-thirds of Indonesia's total international trade, dwelling time at this seaport is high and this gives rise to port congestion and high logistics costs. The government therefore wants three ports in Banten to support Tanjung Priok's trade activities.
However, research institute Supply Chain Indonesia says the government should take into account the pattern of distribution of goods from and to the Tanjung Priok seaport in Jakarta. Although support from the three ports in Banten - namely Cigading, Merak Mas, and Ciwandan - will surely manage to reduce congestion at Tanjung Priok, a study on the flow of goods from and to Tanjung Priok indicates that about 70 percent of the goods that arrive at the Tanjung Priok seaport (for export purposes) are delivered through East Jakarta (while 20 percent arrives through Central Jakarta and the remaining 10 percent through West Jakarta), implying that several feeder ports in the region of East Jakarta would actually be a better solution to offset traffic congestion at the busy Tanjung Priok port.
The Tanjung Priok port was designed to handle five million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) per annum. However, in 2015 the port had to handle about 7.5 million TEUs. The subsequent traffic congestion at the seaport is partly responsible for Indonesia's high logistics costs (currently estimated at 23.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product). Indonesian President Joko Widodo targets to have reduced Indonesia's logistics costs to 19.2 percent of GDP by 2019.
Regarding the Tanjung Priok port, Widodo implemented reforms aimed at enhancing efficiency and coordination at the Tanjung Priok port (for example integrating the Indonesia National Single Window system - which handles export and import documents - with the 'inaportnet' system that monitors the flow of goods in harbors). Efforts also include the construction of new ports and the renovation of existing ports. One of the largest projects currently underway is the USD $1.38 billion New Priok Port (also known as the Kalibaru Port), an extension of the existing Tanjung Priok port. This port will have an annual capacity of 18 million TEUs and will be able to handle vessels up to 15,000 TEUs.
Dwelling Time Tanjung Priok Seaport Jakarta:
| Period | Pre Custom (days) |
Custom Clearance (days) |
Post Custom (days) |
Total (days) |
| September 2015 | 2.11 | 0.46 | 1.57 | 4.14 |
| October 2015 | 2.28 | 0.40 | 1.52 | 4.19 |
| November 2015 | 2.24 | 0.48 | 1.37 | 4.09 |
| December 2015 | 2.56 | 0.49 | 1.69 | 4.70 |
| January 2016 | 3.19 | 0.65 | 1.50 | 5.30 |
| February 2016 | 2.26 | 0.57 | 1.59 | 4.41 |
Source: KPU Bea dan Cukai Tanjung Priok