ALFI-GINSI Hopes For Improvement Of The Supervision System At Priok Port

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) and the All-Indonesian National Importers Association (GINSI) hope that there will be improved surveillance systems at Tanjung Priok Port, so that there will be no longer long traffic jams during transportation on long holidays.

ALFI General Chair Akbar Djohan assessed that the congestion conditions inside the port in recent times were due to a lack of enforcement of regulations for entities outside the port due to uncertain and simultaneous working time.

"This is the problem every holiday, we know that this Thursday, May 23, there is a red date for Harkitnas, all goods owners are competing to catch up and complete the delivery of goods in warehousing. But on the other hand, the officers' unpreparedness, be it ship owners, especially should be prevented," Akbar said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 21.

According to Akbar, the problem resulted in neglected coordination, resulting in congestion inside the Tanjung Priok Port.

In fact, according to him, if there is information earlier, all problems between container goods owners, ship owners and port operators can communicate well, so there will be no long queues during the long holiday period.

The man who is also the Head of the Logistics and Supply Chain Agency of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) emphasized that all entities outside the port can follow the rules.

According to Akbar, the application of a work time of seven days for 24 hours at Tanjung Priok Port has actually been maximized with the implementation of working time alternately with the shift system.

"The problem then, is the work time of the operator and the owner of the goods at this port followed by other entities such as ship owners, agencies and those related to the port?" he said.

Akbar added that the congestion condition at Tanjung Priok Port shows that the ecosystem inside the port cannot be partially resolved so that the problem must be seen through various interests.

"And all of these interests must be accommodated through one door so that stronger authorities are needed through supply chain institutions that are able to regulate the coordination of the port ecosystem involving many entities," he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of BPP GINSI Capt Subandi said that the complexity of the import process should be noted to entities outside the port.

Subandi revealed that until now there are still some who do not serve 24 hours and seven working days a week.

"So those who don't work are not ports, but business agencies or entities outside the port such as shipping/ship agencies, as well as several empty depot operators, including Ministries related to licensing (Kemenperin, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and several Institutions)," he said.

Subandi explained that the importer's requirement to issue or retrieve containers at the port is to have a DO (Delivery Order) issued by ship/shiping line. These requirements are not on the initiative of the port operator but on the terms of shipping to the port.

"Meanwhile, shipping agency companies (ship agents) generally operate or work only from Monday to Friday," said Subandi.

Likewise, the importer requirements to pick up containers at the port must have a Goods Expenditure Approval Letter (SPPB).

"Well, this SPPB that issued it was Customs and Excise at the local port. This is because Customs and Excise requires ports so that containers leaving the port must have pocketed the SPPB. Not to mention the issue of import permits that must be taken care of in ministries and institutions," Subandi explained.

Previously, the condition of congestion inside the Tanjung Priok Port had a major impact on operational costs.

This condition was directly reviewed by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto and Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Friday, May 18.

The government has also revised the Minister of Trade Regulation 36 of 2023 to Permendag 8 of 2024 concerning import policies.

The Director General of Foreign Trade (Daglu) of the Ministry of Trade Budi Santoso revealed that the accumulation of containers at the port was caused by problems with technical considerations (pertek) which was one of the requirements for import approval related to certain commodities.

As for solving these problems, it is necessary to change or relax the regulation of imports through Permendag 8/2024 by not having a problem with pertek again in managing import permits.

Budi added, with the existence of Permendag 8/2024, pertek as a requirement for import approval for certain commodities is no longer needed.

"Thus, the pertek requirement was removed from the attachment to Permendag 8/2024," said Budi.