Minister Of Transportation Budi Karya Hopes Makassar New Port Encourages Economic Equity In Eastern Indonesia Region

Photo: Doc. Antara

Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi hopes that the presence of Makassar New Port can accelerate economic growth and equity in eastern Indonesia.

"Furthermore, hopefully Indonesia's maritime connectivity can be more resilient, efficient, and have a big impact on the progress of the nation," said the Minister of Transportation in a written statement, quoted from Antara, Thursday, February 22.

The Minister of Transportation accompanied President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurating Makassar New Port in Makassar City, South Sulawesi. He said the construction of Makassar New Port aims to strengthen Makassar's role as a logistics gateway in eastern Indonesia and support international trade line connectivity.

"Makassar New Port is one of two ports in Indonesia that is sturdy and ready to receive large ships from all over the world. Moreover, its current capacity has reached 2.5 million TEUs (20 feet) per year," he said.

Makassar New Port, said the Minister of Transportation, is also a new energy for Indonesia, because it is the hub of Indonesia and a world-class international hub.

The President said that Makassar New Port is a large port in eastern Indonesia which is expected to finance logistics costs in Indonesia.

"This port will become a large port in eastern Indonesia which we hope can streamline logistics costs in our country," said President Jokowi.

The President stated that ten years ago the logistics costs in Indonesia were at 24 percent. In fact, other countries are at 9 percent to 12 percent. According to the President, the cause is the unintegrated port with industrial estates.

"Now, our logistics costs have fallen by approximately 14 percent. It has fallen a lot, but it is still slightly higher than other countries. This is our homework together," he said.

The President also touched on the problem of dwelling time which used to reach five to seven days and according to him, it was very inefficient. However, this has been resolved, where currently the average dwelling time is under three days.

It is known, Makassar New Port capacity has been increased by 150 percent, from 1 million TEUs to 2.5 million TEUs per year. The ship dock time at the port also increased, which was a maximum of 24 hours from the previous 48 hours.